THOUGHTS 
UPON GOVERNMENT 



THOUGHTS 



UPON GOVERNMENT 



BY 

/ 
ARTHUR HELPS 



n 






■> > J > 3 3 



BOSTON: 
ROBERTS BROTHERS. 

1872. 






CAMBRIDGE '. 
FRESSWORK BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. 



DEDICATION. 



Dear Lord Derby, 



I dedicate this Work to you. 

We have long been friends, and in former days we were 
sometimes associates in work. 

I have, however, another motive, independently of 
friendship or of association in by-gone labours, for 
dedicating this Work to you. 

I do so mainly because I do not know of any states- 
man of the present day who will be more inclined to 
appreciate whatever truth and force there may be, in that 
chapter of the Work which sets forth the large and fre- 
quent opportunities for judicious action, in political 
affairs, which belong to the Improver, in contrast to the 
Reformer. 

I believe that you will thoroughly sympathize with my 
views on this subject ; and that you will agree with me in 
thinking that, without ignoring the largest and deepest 
political questions, more of the social well-being of the 
people may be made to depend upon improvement, in 



VI DEDICATION. 



the matters which I have alluded to, than even in what 
are called great reforms. 

If this Work should find some favour with men like 
yourself, but not otherwise, I propose to give a Second 
Series of 'Thoughts upon Government,' which I have 
already prepared in part, and which Series will deal with 
the action of Government in such matters as Emigration, 
Education, Recreation, Sanitary Improvement, War, and 
the Preparation for War. 

Subsequently to this work going to press, it has been 
suggested to me, that possibly there may be some 
misconception in regard to what I have written about 
honours. It was written upon a general survey of the 
subject, extending over many years. I did not mean 
to contend, that honours had not often been most 
worthily conferred upon deserving men, in this and 
other countries ; but that there were many grievous 
faults, both of omission and commission; and that the 
whole subject did not appear to me to have met with 
due consideration from modern governments. 

I remain, 

Very faithfully, yours, 

ARTHUR HELPS. 
London : November 1871, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introductory Remarks i 

II. The Fitness of the British People for 

Good Government 8 

III. Government not less, but more wanted as 

Civilization advances. — Paternal Go- 
vernment 19 

IV. Legislation and Administration ... 35 

V. The Relation between the Political and 

Permanent Officers of State. . . 48 

VI. Local Government 51 

VII. On Attracting Able Men to the Service 

of Government 61 

VIII. The Distribution of Honours ... 83 

IX. Councils, Commissions, Boards, and other 

similar Aids to Government ... 96 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

X. The Privy Council of Great Britain. . 109 

XI. Organization 115 

XII. On Foresight in Government . . . 125 

XIII. The Education of a Statesman . . . 133 

XIV. The Education of a Statesman {cont.) . . 142 
XV. On Improvement, in contrast with Reform . 152 

XVI. The Want of Time for Statesmanship . 161 

XVII. Government and the Press . . . .171 

XVIII. Economy in Government . . . .177 

XIX. Diplomacy 188 

XX. On the Conduct of Business . . .198 

XXI. In what the Prosperity of a Nation 

consists 212 

Appendix 233 

Index 237 




THOUGHTS 



UPON 



GOVERNMENT. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



THINK, that there are few studies, chap. 
which would conduce more to human ■ — 



happiness, than a thorough consideration of 
Government — of its duties, its powers, its pri- 
vileges, and especially of the limits which 
should be assigned to its interference. Much Functions. 

of govern- 

more is dependent upon government than at ment. 
first sight appears. Its functions do not 
merely include peace and war, the maintenance 
of justice and the regulations of police; but 
they relate to material well-being of all kinds. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



chap. And, what is perhaps of even greater import- 

• — ' ance, the advancement of Art, Science, and 

Literature depends, much more than is gene- 
rally imagined, upon the functions of govern- 
ment being well-defined, well-directed, and 
judiciously exercised. 

It is also to be observed, that that invalu- 
able part of the education of grown-up people, 
which is evoked by political action, should 
be adequately maintained, and, if possible, 
Aid to continually extended. Everybody should be 

govern- 
ment the made to aid in government. 

duty of 

all. It is universally admitted that we live in 

an age of rapid transition. New modes of 
thought have arisen amongst us ; new elements 
of political force have been developed ; new 
branches of science are playing a very signifi- 

Poiitical cant part in human affairs. Take political 

economy. 

economy, for instance — a science so recent, 
that there are many persons who may almost 
remember its introduction ; that is, its in- 
troduction into England, for the great 
Italian writers already had considered the 
principal subjects of political economy, which 
were, for the most part, new to us. We 



IN TROD UCTOR Y REMARKS. 



owe much to political economy ; but I do not chap. 

hesitate to say, that there has been a certain « — 

presumptuousness attending its introduction 
— that presumptuousness which belongs to 
everything that is young — which requires to 
be noted, and made allowance for, when we 
endeavour to reconcile what may be well 
called the dictates of political economy, with 
the functions of civil government. 

I am now going to speak somewhat egotis- 
tically ; but what I shall say is not meant to 
be egotistical, but merely explanatory, with 
the view of bringing myself and my readers 
into closer contact, and conducing to our 
harmony and understanding. I sincerely Author's 

claims to 

think I have some especial claims to be heard be heard « 
upon questions relating to government. I 
entered the public service immediately after 
leaving the university ; I held, in succession, 
several offices, which ought to have given 
an observant man great opportunities of re- 
marking the conduct of business in various 
Departments. When I ceased to be actively 
employed in the public service, I was 
frequently still obliged to entertain grave 

B 2 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



chap, questions relating to government — being 



honoured, from time to time, by having 
such questions sent to me for consideration. 
I have since re-entered official life, and held 
an office which, from its nature, compels its 
holder to have some insight into the working 
of all the Offices under the Crown. I should 
be, therefore, a very inconclusive person, if I 
had not come to some definite ideas upon 
the general question of government. 

I have, however, one strong reason for 
dwelling on these circumstances, which affects 
myself. It is, that if, in the course of this 
work, I should speak sometimes authori- 
tatively, it is not to be attributed to any 
assumption of authority. It is often im- 
possible to give all the reasons for a con- 
Experi- elusion. One's experience does not always 

ence not 

always embody itself in the form of reasoning. A 

embodied v ° 

in the form doctor cannot always tell you why he has 

of reason. J J J 

come to certain conclusions about a patient's 
case. There are subtleties of observation 
which do not readily take a precise and logi- 
cal form; but which, nevertheless, are well 
founded, and are often of extreme significance. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



Then again, I have mentioned these circum- chap. 
stances, because, as I mean to be brief in the ' — > — 
exposition of my views, I would ask my readers 
occasionally to give credit to my experience, 
and to believe that, in some cases, I have 
reasons which, for the sake of brevity, I do 
not put forward. 

Above all things, I am anxious to take my Readers 

to be 

readers into council with me. I do not sup- taken into 

council. 

pose that any man (certainly not this writer), 
can be absolutely right in the views that he 
brings forward. Nothing is more odious to 
me than dogmatism, in matters which admit 
of much discussion, and in which vast numbers 
of people are interested. I would even have 
my readers remember that I am an official 
man, and may have all the prejudices belong- 
ing to my calling. 

In this introductory chapter, I also think Conclu- 
sions 
it right to mention that, though many of the mostly 

. . apply to 

conclusions which I come to are of a general the British 

** Govern- 

nature, and would apply to the government ment - 
of other nations, it is the Government of Great 
Britain, and her dependencies, which is mainly 
in my mind ; and, only in respect of it should 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



chap. I pretend to have the experience which would 
^-^ — ' justify me in writing, in detail, upon this diffi- 
cult subject. 

Moreover, whatever I shall say about go- 
vernment is to be considered as independent 
of the form of government. I do not go the 
length of Pope's saying — 

For forms of Government let fools contest — 
Whate'er is best administer'd is best ; 

Opinion for I rather partake of the opinion of 

of George 

in. about George III. (not altogether an unprejudiced 
Constitu- observer), that the British Constitution is the 

tion. ' 

best that has yet been devised by man. But 
I admit that, both in ancient and modern 
times, there have been other forms of govern- 
ment, which have fulfilled much of what I 
think admirable in a governing power. I 
merely wish my readers to remember, that 
this work is written by one who has lived 
under a constitutional monarchy ; has been 
satisfied with that form of government ; and 
has it chiefly in mind when he is discussing 
governmental questions. 

Having now, as I hope, put myself upon an 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



amicable footing with my readers, and espe- chap. 



cially begging them to consider, that I do not 
desire to impose upon them my views, but, Author's 
on the contrary, would urge them to regard gestive 

rather 

all that I say as suggestive rather than con- than con- 
clusive, 
elusive, I will, at once, commence the treat- 
ment of the subject. 




CHAPTER II. 



CHAP. 
II. 



British 
people 
easy to 
govern. 



THE FITNESS OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE 
FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. 

T DO not think that it is too boastful to say, 
-*- that the British people, and our near rela- 
tions in America and the colonies, are the most 
governable people on the face of the Earth. 
It may seem arrogant to enumerate our good 
qualities in this respect, but I think it must 
be admitted by other nations, that the British 
are not given to ferocity ; that we are singu- 
larly averse to pushing any conclusion to 
its extreme ; that we are very conservative ; 
and that we abhor superlatives of any kind, 
in language, in conduct, and in controversy. 
I should hardly venture to say all these fine 
things of ourselves, if history did not amply 
confirm the statement. 

Consider our two great revolutions ; and it 
is in revolution, that the nature of a people is 



FITNESS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. C 

most tried. How dignified, for the most part, chap. 

was our conduct in these crises ! They ex- « — ' 

hibit a certain magnanimity, of which every British 
British reader must be proud. Whether he in their 

revolu- 

is still an ardent sympathizer with Cavalier tions. 
or Roundhead ; whether he is a devoted 
partizan of James II. or of William III. ; he 
cannot but respect the other side, if he reads 
history in any spirit of fairness. Our great 
historical novelist, Sir Walter Scott, a man by 
no means free from the feelings of partizanship, 
nevertheless, being essentially a just man, 
always does ample justice to the other side ; 
and the feelings of his readers go with him. 

Nay, more : in rebellions, as well as in And even 
revolutions, the governable nature of the lions. 
British people has not been less manifested. 
Anyone, who will carefully investigate the 
rebellions of Wat Tyler and Jack Cade, will, 
I believe, be constrained to come to a similar 
conclusion to that which has impressed itself 
on my mind, in reference to these rebellions. 
In short, we are the most cautious people in British 
the world ; if we are to be judged by the limits 
which we place to political action of all kinds. 



IO THE FITNESS OF THE BRITISH 

The foregoing assertion might be illustrated 
in several ways. I prefer adopting one illus- 
tration, and endeavouring to work that out 
thoroughly ; not presuming to say that it is 
the best, but it is the one that has always 
struck me the most. 
Habit of It is the mode in which everything is 
bymajo- ultimately settled in Great Britain by the 

rity. 

majority. In the Apology which Plato gives 
us, as the speech of Socrates before his 
judges, there is this remarkable passage : ' Do 
not be vexed with me for telling you the 
Plato's truth. There lives not the man who can 

Apology 

escape destruction if, as a born antagonist, 
he opposes you, or any other popular major- 
ity, and endeavours to prevent many unjust 
and unconstitutional things being done in the 
State ; but it is necessary that he who will 
fight this battle for what is righteous, and yet, 
even for never so short a time, keep himself 
unharmed, must maintain the privacy of 
an individual, and take no part in public 
affairs.' 

Now, in Great Britain there is no such fear 
for anyone. A man may be in a minority 



PEOPLE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. II 

of one ; and amongst so independent, and so chap. 

original a people as the British, there are many * — ■ — ' 

persons who rather like to find themselves in 

a minority of one. That one may be in some Minorities 

not op- 
danger of ridicule, but not in any peril from pressed in 

Great 

persecution. Without, however, taking this Britain. 
extreme case, it may be observed how excel- 
lent is the conduct of both majority and mi- 
nority when once the question in dispute has 
been put to the vote. It is not by any 
means taken for granted, by either majority or 
minority, that the question is finally settled. 
But it is settled for a time. Each party, 
as a general rule, behaves handsomely to the 
other. The majority is seldom offensively Conduct 

. . rr ofmajori- 

trmmphant : the minority offensively recal- ties and 

minorities. 

citrant. Sometimes, of course, when party- 
spirit runs very high as regards the matter at 
issue, there are a few noisy persons who 
make a demonstration. But the wiser men, 
on each side, gather up their strength for 
future contests ; or if the matter is one which 
has been carefully canvassed and long de- 
bated, the beaten party makes up its mind to 
accept the new condition of things ; and re- 



12 



THE FITNESS OF THE BRITISH 



Goethe's 
opinion 
on minor- 
ities. 



Majority 
often a- 
dopt opi- 
nion of 
minority. 



Free- 
trade. 



solves to see how it can best adapt itself to 
them, and work out its own ulterior views 
under them. 

Goethe says, that all greatness and good 
sense are to be found in the minority. 1 An 
Englishman has no fanciful notion of this 
kind : he thinks that wisdom always rests 
with that side which he happens to take. 
Notwithstanding that, he neither despises 
minorities, nor worships majorities. 

The history of any great question in po- 
litics shows, that what may have been at one 
time the opinion of a minority, often suc- 
ceeds in establishing itself ultimately as the 
opinion of the majority. Take the question 
of Free-trade, for instance. Experience 
seems to have proved, that the opinion in 
favour of Free-trade is a sound one — has, 
indeed, with us in England, proceeded from 

1 „Wt% ©rofie imb ©efd)eite," fagte er, „ erifttrt in ber 
Sftinoritdt. @3 f)at SJHniftet gegefcen, bie 33olf unb .ftonia, 
$gen fid) fatten, unb bie i^re groj?en $r<me einfam butd)* 
flatten. (S3 tft nie baran ju benfen, bag bie SSernunft 
popular rcerbe. £eibenfd)aften unb ©efit^te mogen popular 
rcerben, after bie 3Sernunft noirb immer nur tm $eft| einjelner 
SBorjuaftcfyer fctn." — @ej>rad)e mit ©oetlje, son 3oj)ann 
$eter (Scfermann. 12 Februar 1829. 



PEOPLE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. 1 3 

an opinion to a conclusion. But this opinion chap. 

has gone through a series of stages of de- ' r — ' 

velopment. It was at first held by two or Develop- 
ment of 
three thoughtful writers, who, perhaps, were opinions. 

the only persons in the kingdom who tho- 
roughly believed in it, and were willing to 
accept all its consequences. The opinion 
very gradually grew into favour, until it 
came to be held by an overwhelming ma- 
jority. It is clear that Goethe's maxim 
would only have applied to this question 
during a certain period ; and, therefore, that 
the maxim is entirely conditional. 

The British, I maintain, are very little in- 
fluenced, one way or the other, by the 
number of persons happening to hold any 
particular political opinion. But we believe, 
that questions must be settled somehow ; 
and that a most reasonable way of settling 
them is, to get them put to the vote, and to Willing- 

ness to 

accept the decision of the majority. We ad ?p fcde * 

x j j cisions. 

respect that decision ; not, perhaps, intel- 
lectually, but physically ; if I may so express 
it. And that there should be such a respect 
for the decision of the majority, is an im- 



14 THE FITNESS OF THE BRITISH 



chap, mense advantage to the cause of order, in 
— - — ' any State. 



That almost blasphemous saying, ' The 

voice of the people is the voice of God,' is 

not one which would find favour with our 

fellow-countrymen. But, for all that, the 

Voice of voice of the people, when it is made intel- 

tobere- ligible, is greatly respected by us, and is 

spected. 

looked at— not in a religious, but in a busi- 
ness-like kind of way — as a thing which 
must be observed, and proved ; and, in some 
measure, attended to. 
Aids to The greatest aids to good government 

good go- . . . 

vemment. are those general principles of thought and 
action which belong to the character of the 
people ; and which always can be appealed 
to, and relied upon, even in times of danger 
and of difficulty. 

I do not believe that I have given too 
favourable a representation of our political 
modes of procedure ; and, if my description 
is a just one, other nations must admit that 
they cannot appeal to their histories for 
examples of a similar nature. With us, the 
beaten party does not hasten to ' descend 



PEOPLE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. 1 5 



into the streets ; ' does not suppose, for a chap. 
moment, that a matter which has been de- *■ — « — 



cided by argument, or even by a nice adjust- 
ment of moral and political forces, is to be 
varied or recalled by brute force. 

I should not so much insist upon our 
political history, to prove how well majorities 
and minorities conduct themselves, if I could 
not confirm my assertions, in this respect, by 
our conduct in simpler matters than those of 
politics. The same obedience to a majority, General 

obedience 

and respect for the right of a minority, may to the ma- 
jority. 
be seen in the decision of matters which are 

not political ; and even in our recreations. A 
dispute arises ; the question is put to the 
vote ; and it is wonderful, and I may say 
delightful, to observe what thorough ac- 
quiescence, or at least obedience, is obtained, 
when once the question has been thus de- 
cided. 

This may seem inconsistent with what 
has been said before, touching the conduct 
of the British in times of revolution, for, at 
any rate, during those periods they have not 
been content to abide by any mere vote, but 



1 6 THE FITNESS OF THE BRITISH 



chap, have had recourse to arms. All that can 
— r — ' be said in reply is, that there are certain 



national questions which cannot be decided by 

the head or the tongue, but which must be left 

Force ne- to the arbitrament of physical force. When, 

times. however, that dire state of things has arisen, 

the conduct of the British nation has been, as 

stated before, as little repugnant to justice 

and humanity as could possibly be expected. 

One other important circumstance, which 

renders the British more amenable to govern- 

British not ment than almost any other people, is, that 

addicted 

to envy, they are singularly devoid of envy. Con- 
sidering the immense display of wealth in 
Great Britain, there is very little disposition 
manifested, on the part of those who are 
entirely without wealth, meanly to envy the 
possessors of it. There is, notwithstanding 
some appearances to the contrary, less real 
evidence of the prospect of a revolution, for 
social purposes, in Great Britain than else- 
where. 
Constant Another point, worthy of observation, as 
attach- regards our fitness for good government, is, 

ments. 

that we are a very constant people — very 



PEOPLE FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. 1 7 

constant in our attachment to our political chap. 

friends and favourites. We are hasty in ' * — ' 

censure : we pounce down very sharply And 

though 

upon any real or supposed errors of our sharply 

critical, 

political leaders ; but, there is scarcely any 
mistake that they may make, anything that 
they can do, short of committing an act 
of deliberate baseness, which is not invari- 
ably condoned by the good nature of the 
public, which those leaders guide and govern. 
We are not the people to expect perfection 
in anybody ; and our grave and humourous, tolerant 
and somewhat unprecise nature, makes us main, 
very tolerant of short-comings. 

Lastly, and this is an element of fitness for 
being well governed, which is of a surprising 
and peculiar value, we have a horror of pres- Averse to. 

1 • . iTT i • extremes, 

sing any doctrine to its extreme. We abjure 
pure science in common life and in politics, 
and are never fascinated by the desire for 
completeness. Our proceedings, political and 
otherwise, are anything but neat, with the 
neatness of a doctrinaire, but are often very 
ragged at the edges ; and we really like 
this rawedness. Hence, we are a people Compro- 

00 r r mises. 

C 



1 8 FITNESS FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. 



chap, delighting in compromises, and much skilled 



-"" ' ' in framing these apparently incomplete and 

unscientific arrangements, which, however, 

often embody the soundest practical wisdom. 

I think I have given several valid reasons 

Fitness for for my belief in the fitness of the British 

good go- 
vernment, people for good government j 1 which reasons, 

if true, are a great encouragement to states- 
men to work with ardour, and without tre- 
pidation, for a people eminently constant, 
unenvious, practical, thoughtful, and averse 
to extremes. 

1 M. Guizot confirms the views expressed in the text, 
and his testimony, being that of a foreigner, is most 
valuable : ' En Angleterre aussi, chaque systeme, chaque 
principe a eu son temps de force et de succes; jamais 
aussi completement, aussi exclusivement que sur le con- 
tinent: le vainqueur a toujours ete contraint de tole'rer 
la presence de ses rivaux, et de leur faire a chacun sa 
part.' — Guizot, Civilisation en Europe. 




/£r"s 



CHAPTER III. 

GOVERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE WANTED 

AS CIVILIZATION ADVANCES. 

PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. 



I 



T is an opinion of some people, but, as I chap. 



hi. 



contend, a wrong and delusive opinion, 

A wrong 

that, as civilization advances, there will be opinion. 
less and less need for government. I main- 
tain that, on the contrary, there will be 
more and more need. It is a melancholy 
fact, but it is a fact, that civilization is mostly 
attended by complication. And, moreover, individual 

effort less 

it is attended by a diminution of power, as powerful 

now. 

regards individual effort. I always like to 
strengthen an abstract statement by some 
concrete illustration. Now, take lighting for 
instance. There was but little occasion for 
government regulations when the lighting of 
each particular house, in great cities, entirely 
depended upon the owner of that house. But 
now, when the lighting, not only of public 

C2 



20 GOVERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE 

chap, streets, but of private dwellings, is chiefly ef- 
' — - — ' fected by four or five great centres of lighting 
in a town, the whole of this function has 
entered into the domain of government, for 
no one private person has power enough to 
regulate the matter for himself, or can in 
any way insure that the quality of his 
light shall be what he desires. A similar 
Subjects course of argument applies to several of 

requiring ' 

govern- the primary requisites for the well-being 

ment inter- . 

ference. and comfort of human life. Water supply, 
drainage, sewerage, means of locomotion, all 
enter the same category. I maintain, that the 
wisest and the richest man amongst us, the 
man too who shall have the most leisure, is 
perfectly incompetent, especially if he lives in 
a great town, to provide for himself some of 
these primary requisites of life. Having once 
thrown in his fate and his fortunes amongst 
an agglomerated mass of people, it is to the 
government alone that he can look for pro- 
tection. 

Massing One of the results of advancing civili- 

of the po- 
pulation. Z ation has been an agglomeration of indi- 
viduals in particular spots, peculiarly suited 



WANTED AS CIVILIZATION ADVANCES. 21 



for commerce or for manufactures. That chap. 
agglomeration always takes power out of the — - — 



hands of the individual. It makes a thing 
too big for him to deal with. The govern- 
ment is the only body that can control the 
fierce conflict of contending individual in- 
terests. 

One of the principal consequences of civil- 
ization is the division of labour; and that Division 

.... . t of labour. 

division, though no doubt a great benefit to 
the commonwealth, deprives each labourer of 
power over those departments of labour in 
which he is not concerned as a labourer. His 
interest, therefore, in those other departments, 
properly and legitimately goes to the State. 
And practically he will find, that his only 
influence over them will be through the 
influence he can exercise upon the govern- 
ment. 

It is not only in these material things that 
the same law applies. The individual will Diminu- 

. tion of 

find, that in the greater matters of government, personal 

power. 

advancing civilization has uniformly deprived 
him of some personal power and influence ; 
and that he has, it may be unconsciously, 



22 GOVERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE 

chap, surrendered some of those functions, which 

in. 
— « — ' would have been his under a simpler form of 

life and manners, to this absorbing creature 

called government. If he wishes Art or 

Advance- Science to advance, not being an artist or a 

ment of 

Art and scientific man, he will find that the only mode, 

Science. 

or, at least, the chief mode of action that he 
can adopt, is through government. 

Again ; advancing civilization has not ren- 
dered it easier for the individual to deal with 
Foreign the foreign or colonial matters which concern 

and colo- . , . 

niai affairs, him. Throughout the world, its progress has 
only tended to complicate these matters, and 
rendered it more necessary that those bodies, 
called governments, should give ever-increas- 
ing attention to those interests which they 
alone can deal with. 

Moreover, the holding of property has 
not become more simple in its nature as 

Tenure of civilization has advanced, and has not given 

property 111 1 

more com- government less to do, but more to do, 

plicated. ' ... 

in order to protect the various interests to 

which it should give fair play. Property, 

* as great jurists declare, is but a creature of 

the State : it must not be allowed to become 



WANTED AS CIVILIZATION ADVANCES. 23 



a noxious creature to the general community, chap. 

I am persuaded, that any man, who will give ' • — ' 

a large circumspection to this branch of the 
subject, will be ready to admit that advancing 
civilization has provided, and will continue to 
provide, more work to be done by the govern- 
ment of each nation. 

I am well aware that the foregoing remarks 
may be held to indicate the advantage of a 
form of government, which is not approved of Paternal 

govern- 
by many persons, who, moreover, think we men t- 

have outgrown it ; but which, on the contrary, 
I hold to be one that we must advance into, 
rather than recede from. This form of govern- 
ment is called 'paternal government/ 

I freely admit that this phrase has an evil Has an 

ill name 

sound with many people, even of those who 
have given much thought to the general sub- 
ject of government. They will persist in 
connecting the idea of unreasonable interfer- 
ence, with that of a paternal government. It 
is rather hard upon us fathers of families, 
that this view should be taken, but I do admit 
that we are sometimes apt to forget our 
children have come to, what are called ' years 



24 GO VERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE 



chap, of discretion;' and are wont to impose upon 
" — ■ — ' them, somewhat unreasonably, our own opi- 



nions, our own objects, our own desires. 
This, of course, results from our great affection 
for them, and our anxiety to enrich them with 
our own experience, forgetting that experience 
is a thing which cannot be bought with other 
people's money, but must be paid for in the 
coin of individual suffering. 

Now the State is in no great danger of 

going wrong from an excess of affection, on 

the part of those who govern, for those who 

are governed ; and, instead of repudiating a 

Paternal paternal government, I believe it would be 

ment good our best policy to claim it with all the force 

policy. 

we have. 

We are now brought face to face with the 

nice and difficult question, of what is justly 

* paternal ' action in government, and what is 

unreasonable interference. I admit that the 

Tme H- moment this paternal government does any- 

mits of 

paternal thing for any individual which he can do as 

govern- 
ment. W ell for himself, it is needlessly interfering, 

and tends to dwarf his powers of action, and of 

self-improvement. But if, on the other hand, 



WA NTED AS CIVILIZA TION AD VANCES. 2 5 



it neelects to do that which cannot be done chap. 
s in. 



by its children, as individuals, it inevitably 
cripples the well-being and improvement of 
the individual, and so far tends to render him 
a stunted creature. 

It was a very droll idea of that great wit, 

Aristophanes, to represent, in one of his plays, Aristo- 
phanes: 

a good peaceful citizen who, in time of war, his peace- 
ful citizen. 

wished to make a separate peace with the 
enemy. This excellent person had no desire 
for conquest, and could not see why he should 
not come to terms with the enemy, on his own 
account. We smile at this comical attempt, 
on the part of an insignificant individual, at 
reconciliation with a huge adverse Power. 
Perhaps, however, we do not see, that an at- 
tempt similar to that which this good citizen 
was intent to make, for self-preservation from 
the horrors and injuries of war, would have to 
be made by each of us who should endeavour, 
without the aid of a paternal government, to 
relieve himself and his family from the horrors 
and injuries of bad drainage, foul air, or adul- 
terated food. It does not enter into the power 
of any individual to deal, as an individual, 



2 6 GOVERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE 



chap, with those potent associations called gas 

hi- . . 

— - — ' companies, or water companies, or even with 



individual tradesmen, who, being in a state of 
prosperous warfare with the community, can- 
not afford to enter into special terms of peace 
with a private individual. 
Need of I knew a person who, in the innocence and 

ment in- confidence of youth, somewhat presumptously, 

terference 

illustrated, took upon himself the endeavour to abate a 
great public nuisance ; namely, an open ditch 
which had, originally, been nothing more than 
a well-meaning outlet for draining some fields, 
but which, in the progress of building, had be- 
come a sewer of intense malignity. This enter- 
prising young reformer soon found that no- 
thing less than the power of the State could 
abate this nuisance. One person was willing, 
but not able to do any good in the matter ; 
another was able, but not willing ; a third had 
only a life, or leasehold interest, and had, 
therefore, no hearty care for improvement. 
Occasionally, the property, through which this 
foul sewer ran, belonged to some corporation 
which was a most difficult body to move. In 
some instances the owner of the property was 



WANTED A S CIVILIZA TION AD VANCES. 2 y 



not to be discovered, or when discovered was chap. 
found to be incompetent to manage his own *■ — ■ — ' 
affairs. In other cases the ownership was the 
subject of legal controversy. Altogether, it 
was soon manifest that nothing could be done 
in the matter without State interference. 

Now here is an instance in which advancing 
civilization, carrying with it a rapid increase 
of population in particular localities, caused 
an evil, for which the remedy was only to be interfer- 

r , . , f. ence just 

found in a just and necessary interference on and neces. 
the part of government, which interference 
was not less needed because it may be called 
' paternal.' 

There have been many short and trenchant 
maxims, the currency of which has been very 
mischievous to mankind. I doubt whether 
any one of these maxims has been so mis- 
chievous as the saying Caveat emptor. If it caveat 

11 i- i t i emptor a 

does mean, as generally applied, ' Let the very mis- 
community have nothing to do with the wares saying. 
which the purchaser wishes to buy,' it is a 
most cruel maxim. And if it only means, 
' Let the buyer beware,' it is almost equally 
cruel, for his wariness will only make him un- 



28 GOVERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE 

char comfortable, seeing: that it cannot assist him 

hi. . . 

' — ' — ' in getting the goods that he wants for the 

money that he is prepared to give. To do 

this he must call in the aid of the community, 

as expressed and directed by government; 

and he is, in my judgment, a very foolish 

person if he hesitates to do so from the fear 

of putting himself in the hands of a paternal 

government. 

Ground- There are many people who are frightened 

less fear 

oizBu- by the word Bureaucracy. They think, 

reaucracy. 

perhaps, that there are a number of official 
men anxious to get into their hands the direc- 
tion and management of the business of the 
world. But these frightened persons do not 
make sufficient allowance for that indolence 
of nature, which besets official men as well as 
the rest of mankind. In this country, how- 
ever it may be in other countries, there is 
not any restless body of official men desirous 
of bringing great accretions of work upon their 
respective Offices. 
No dan- In considering this most important subject 

in Eng- of governmental interference, it is always to 

land. 

be recollected, that the common sense of the 



WANTED AS CIVILIZATION ADVANCES. 29 

community will be for ever employed in re- chap. 

straining this interference within due limits. ' > — ' 

There will also be two great causes which Forces 
will tend to make these limits within, rather to limit it. 
than beyond what is requisite. In the first 
place ; there will be the individual interest, 
often most powerful in Parliament, which is 
injured or menaced by any interference with 
its action on behalf of the public good. In 
the second place, there is the immense desire 
in every human breast to be allowed to act 
as freely as possible ; which desire often 
militates against, and absolutely conquers 
the most manifest considerations of self- 
interest and welfare. People do not like to 
be controlled, or to lose any freedom of 
action, even for what they know to be for 
their good. Amongst a free people, the Danger 

danger always is of too little governmental little in- 
terference. 
interference, rather than of too much. 

Then there comes in that powerful agent, Ridicule, 

ridicule, which will always be a secure friend safeguard. 

on the side of those who are fearful of too much 

governmental interference. Ridicule will not 

allow governmental interference in small 



30 GOVERNMENT NOT LESS, BUT MORE 

chap, matters, even though it might be justified by 
*- — ' — ' very good reasons derived from general 
principles. 

I will give an instance of what I mean. 

The adulteration of drugs is a very serious 

evil It has before now proceeded to such 

an extent, that if prescriptions had been made 

Aduitera- up from unadulterated drugs they would 

tion of 

drugs. have been perniciously strong; whereas, on 
the other hand, if the drugs were adul- 
terated more than usual, the prescription 
became ineffectually weak. Now most people 
would admit that this was a very serious 
evil, and one which demanded legislation, 
and subsequent supervision, on the part of 
government. The word ' paternal ' is always 
dropped in such cases, though, in reality, 
the action in question is that of a paternal 
government, which, in hearty concert with 
the public, has thrown the maxim Caveat 
emptor to the winds. Here is an admitted 

Sale of case for governmental interference, as also is 

poisons. 

the sale of known poisons. 

Now take another instance wherein, upon 
general principles, government might perhaps 



WANTED AS CIVILIZATION ADVANCES. 31 

be called upon to interfere ; but, respecting chap. 
which, no person of common sense would ' — ■ — ' 
probably desire its interference. There are 
certain dyes which, when introduced into 
textures that are to come next to the skin, 
are decidedly injurious to health. But no Certain 

' . r cases unfit 

one would wish government to interfere for inter- 
ference. 
in this matter, for, in the first place, De 

minimis non curat lex might fairly be ap- 
plied. And then, which is much more to the 
point, the buyer has it in his power, not only 
to beware, but to act according to his wari- 
ness, and not to purchase these dyed goods. 
He is in a far different position from the man 
who can only get water from a certain water 
company, and who cannot, however wary he 
may be, insure, without government aid, pure 
water for himself and for his family. 

Pursuing this illustration still further, for it Non-in- 
may be made a very fruitful one, I would say on behalf 

of the pur* 

that a government need not interfere on be- chaser. 
half of the purchaser. And so far my readers, 
I think, will go with me. But the question 
becomes a very different one, if it is found 
that, in the preparation and application of 



32 GO VERNMENT NO T LESS, B UT MORE 

chap, some dye, great injury is done to the work- 
* — ' — -" people, and especially to the children who are 
employed in making and applying certain 
highly noxious substances. Here paternal 
government has, according to my view of it, 
a right to step in, and to say to the wearers of 
certain ornamental appendages : 'You may 
wear these noxious and absurd things if you 
interfer- like ; but you shall not make use of our children 

ence on 

behalf of to manufacture them/ One of the first duties 

work- 
people, of a State is to have a regard to the health 

of its people, and especially of those who 
are least able to protect themselves, namely, 
its young children; and it may decidedly 
decline to allow them to have any dealings 
with that detestable substance known as 
' Scheele's Green.' If this interference is ad- 
mitted, it certainly may be classified under the 
head of paternal interference. 
Paternal Paternal government prevents revolution. 

govern- ... - . 

mentpre- What socialists are always aiming at is a 

vents revo- . 

lution. paternal government under which they are to 
be the spoilt children. But a government 
which should give considerable attention to 
the wants, and even to the pleasures, of the 



WANTED AS CIVILIZATION ADVANCES. 33 

governed, would satisfy the reasonable part of chap. 

the population, and make them very averse ' ■ ' 

to revolution. When government limits 
itself, as regards the executive, to the main- 
tenance of order, and to the administration of 
justice, it is not likely to have a very strong 
hold on the affections of the people. There are 
persons who theoretically declare, that they 
desire the least possible of governmental inter- 
ference in all their affairs ; but when any cala- interfer- 
ence de- 
mity occurs, or when any great evil, socially manded 

when any 

speaking, comes to the surface and is much s reat 

calamity 

talked about, these same persons will be found occurs - 
joining in the cry that government ought to 
have foreseen this — ought to look to that ; and 
in short, all of a sudden (often when it is too 
late), they are willing greatly to extend their 
views with regard to the proper functions of 
government." 

I mean the conclusion, from all that I have Paternal 

• govern- 

said in this chapter, to be, that paternal ment to be 

welcomed. 

government, as it is called, should be wel- 
comed rather than abjured ; and that we may 
be certain, in a free country, that limits will 
be put to its action, falling short of rather 



34 PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. 

chap, than exceeding those which are required for 
' ' the welfare of the people governed. 

Those who are afraid lest we should have 
too much paternal government, should re- 
member that, in default of paternal govern- 
Fratemai ment, we may have fraternal government ; a 

govern- 
ment, form of rule which has always partaken largely 

of the relations which subsisted between those 

two brothers, of whom we have the earliest 

record. 




CHAPTER IV. 

LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

SUPPOSE it will be admitted by every- chap. 
-*- one, who has considered the subject of ' — i — ' 
government, that these two functions — legis- Difference 

between 

lation and administration — are totally dif- legislation 

and admi- 

ferent in character. And, moreover, it must nistration. 
be observed that the same body which will 
perform one of these important functions 
well, is seldom or never so constituted as to 
fulfil the other equally well. 

Then there arises the difficult question, of 
how far a legislative body should interfere Limits of 

. . . . . interfer- 

with the administrative body, to insure that ence. 
the legislation it has enacted should be tho- 
roughly carried out. I submit that this inter- 
ference should be the least possible. It is to 
be carefully remembered, that there are various 
sources of temptation attaching to a legislative 



36 LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 

chap, body, prompting them to interfere unreason- 

' — ■ — ' ably with administration. There is, first, the 

natural suspicion pervading the whole body, 

Parija- that if its legislation does not answer, it is 

ments & ' 

i*m m ed™ eS because its yoke-fellow — the administrative 
lovem- body — has not acted in full accordance with 
the letter, or the spirit, of the enactments in 
question. Then there is the vanity, or the 
diseased activity, or the desire for prominence, 
which induces members of the legislature to 
busy themselves needlessly in interference 
with the executive. The action caused by 
these motives should be steadily resisted, 
otherwise great mischief may ensue, and 
indeed does take place at the present time. 
Evils of Needless returns are called for, occupying the 

much 

question- time and attention of public Offices which 

ing in 

Pariia- ought to be otherwise employed ; needless 

ment. 

questions are asked in Parliament which sadly 
waste the time of the Ministers who have to 
answer them ; and, what is a far more serious 
evil, the public Offices are hampered, worried, 
and weakened by a sense of their double re- 
sponsibility : to their chiefs and their country 
on the one hand, and to Parliament on the 
other. 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 37 

Now a marked evil of the present Age, as chap. 
of all Ages in which criticism has risen to a ' ■ 
great height, is, that everyone has to think, Effect of 

excessive 

not only what he shall do, but how his deed criticism. 

shall appear to be done — how, in short, it will 

stand the test of a never-sleeping criticism. 

At first sight this may seem to be a good 

thing, but in reality it is not so. In the 

first place there is not time enough in the 

world for it. ' Wretched would be the pair 

above all names of wetchedness,' as Dr. John- Saying of 

Dr. John- 
son well says, " who should be doomed to son. 

adjust by reason every morning all the minute 

detail of a domestic day.' And something of 

the same kind applies to all forms of social 

life. There is not time, and certainly there is 

not energy enough, for those persons who 

have to decide, to direct, and to govern, also 

to have to explain their reasons and motives 

for all that they do. We see this in the case 

of great commanders ; and a similar rule holds 

good almost universally. Ask the men who 

have been most successful in what are called 

private affairs — the captains of industry 

whether they would have been equally sue- 



38 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 



CHAP. 
IV. 



v/ 



Trust ne- 
cessary to 
vigorous 
action. 



Necessity 
for a 
second 
legislative 
Chamber. 



cessful had they been obliged to work under 
the harrow of perpetual supervision and cri- 
ticism. One of the delusions of the world 
has been the notion that there is any wonder- 
ful dissimilarity in the conduct of public and 
of private affairs, whereas, the general laws, 
which should regulate all human transactions, 
are the same in both cases. One of the most 
important of these laws is, that you should give 
a large amount of trust and confidence to your 
agents, if you wish that they should act for you 
with any of the vigour, promptitude, and com- 
parative fearlessness with which you would act 
for yourself. 

It is inevitably requisite, when treating the 
subject of this chapter, to consider the neces- 
sity for a second Chamber of legislature. It 
is a question, which deeply agitates the minds 
of men in the present day, and it cannot be 
held to be other than one of vital importance. 
In order, however, to consider it carefully, 
some general remarks may well be intro- 
duced. 

Time and occasion are the two important 
circumstances in human life, as regards which 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 39 



the most mistaken estimates are made. And chap. 
the error is universal. It besets even the most ■ 
studious and philosophic men. This may 
notably be seen in the present day, when Common 

errors re- 

many most distinguished men have laid down garding 

time 

projects for literature and philosophy, to be 
accomplished by them, in their own lifetime, 
which would require several men, and many 
lifetimes to complete ; and, generally speak- 
ing, if any person, who has passed the me- 
ridian of life, looks back upon his career, he 
will probably own, that his greatest errors have 
arisen from his not having made sufficient 
allowance for the length of time, which his 
various schemes required for their fulfilment. 
Now, is this an error which is less likely to 
occur in a popular assembly, than with indi- 
vidual men ? 

The same statements hold good as regards and occa- 
sion. 
occasion. Of that, too, a popular assembly 

is by no means more likely, than an indivi- 
dual, to form a just estimate. On the con- 
trary, the danger which always threatens, 
and often prevents calmness of thought, and 
justness of action, when these have to be 



40 LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

exercised in the presence of a numerous body, 
is likely to be very prominent and very fatal 
in matters which involve a just estimate both 
of time and occasion. 

These general reflections cannot be held 
to be out of place, when we are considering 
the subject of legislation and administration. 
Men do not cease to have the common 
faults of mankind because they are elected to 
serve in a popular assembly. And this is 
true wherever man is placed — he having, 
always, great difficulty, as Goethe has re- 
marked, ' in jumping off from his own 
shadow.' 
Defects Now, let us apply the foregoing remarks to 

likely to 

prevail in the legislation that is likely to occur when there 

a single 

chamber, is only one, and that one an elected legis- 
lative assembly. Such a body will naturally 
partake of whatever impulses are predomi- 
nant with the people. The immediate ques- 
tions of the day will naturally pre-occupy the 
minds of its members ; and those questions 
will assume a disproportionate value in their 
eyes. They will be eager to attempt what 
they have not time to accomplish, and will be 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 41 

prone to exaggerate the urgency of the c ^y P 
occasion. 

Occasion is not Opportunity. Occasion 

is not op- 
Let us apply this maxim to the great portunity. 

subject of peace and war. There may fre- 
quently be a Casus belli which affords any- 
thing but a good opportunity of going to war. 
In dealing with such a case, the tendency of 
a popular assembly, or, indeed, of any single 
assembly, is, to give too much weight to the 
occasion. And therein appears the great 
advantage of having a second legislative 
assembly. It would be a very coarse way 
of putting it to say, that it enables us to 
make an appeal from ' Philip drunk to Philip 
sober.' But certainly there is something in 
this common phrase which is justified by the 
universal experience of mankind. The man 
who has not found out, that in serious matters 
it is well to address himself to the con- 
sideration of them, in various moods of mind, 
is either very inexperienced, or very un- 
observant. 

There is not anything which, if a prudent 
man had to choose the Country in which he 



42 LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 



chap, would reside and cast his fortunes, would 
' ' more justly influence his choice than the 



fact whether a country possessed, or not, 
a second Chamber. Men can accommo- 
date themselves to nearly any set of cir- 
cumstances, and continue to carry on life 
tolerably, except under sudden changes of 
legislation which affect their dearest interests. 
It is taking an extreme case, but not an un- 
fruitful one for observation, to notice what 
Action of was done by the Commune in the late dis- 

the French 

Commune, turbances in France. In two or three weeks 
they passed laws affecting religion, property, 
freedom of speech, and freedom of action of 
every kind. To show to what an extent this 
wild and tumultuous legislation was carried, 
there came a telegram one day to this 
country, which stated, for the satisfaction of 
mankind, ' that no material alteration in the 
laws of France had been made by the Com- 
mune on the preceding day.' As I have said 
before, the conduct of the Commune is an 
extreme case ; but something distantly similar 
to it may be observed throughout history in 
the conduct of every government that has 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 43 



relied upon a single legislative assembly — chap. 
Kings Council, Council of Ten, Council of ' ' ' 
Three Hundred, or whatever name and form 
the one ruling body may have assumed. 

As bearing upon the necessity of a second De Toc- 

z queville on 

Chamber, the following words of De Tocque- a second 

& m ^ Chamber. 

ville are closely to the point : — 

'Je pense done qu'il faut toujours placer 
quelque part un pouvoir social superieur a 
tous les autres ; mais je crois la liberte en 
peril lorsque ce pouvoir ne trouve devant lui 
aucun obstacle qui puisse retenir sa marche, 
et lui donner le temps de se moderer lui-meme/ 

Now, I would not have it supposed, from 
anything that has been said, that I am in the 
least degree pledged to maintain, that any 
second Chamber, that may exist in any part 
of the world, is the best fitted for correcting 
the evils, which I believe would, inevitably, 
be caused by the existence of one legislative 
body only, in any given State. It would be 
presumptuous to attempt to declare, what 
would be the best form of constitution for 
this second Chamber in any foreign country. 
I think, however, that it would be pusillani- 



44 LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 

chap, mous not to attempt to say what, in my 
^ ' judgment, might be the best constitution for 
such a Chamber in our own. 
House of I confess, that I think that it is impossible, 

Lords. 

or, at least, that it would be very unwise, if 
it were possible, to maintain the House of 
Lords as a second Chamber for Great Bri- 
tain, without considerable modifications in 
the constitution of that legislative body. As 
it is at present constituted, it does not do the 
work, or even provide the restraint, which a 
second Chamber should do, and should pro- 
vide. It is more completely the victim of 
popular impulses than even the Lower House ; 
its defects, which, indeed, can hardly be called a victim 
at all, as, for the most part, it fairly reflects 
and shares those popular impulses. But, 
that body may justly be called a victim to 
popular impulses, which eventually is always 
sure to sacrifice, even its convictions, to the 
predominating influence of the other house ; 
whereas, looking across the Atlantic for an ex- 
ample, we have often seen that the American 
Senate has most wisely and patriotically re- 
sisted popular impulses, especially in the con- 
duct of foreign affairs. 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 45 

It is always a most difficult thing for a re- chap. 
former, who perceives that a reform is wanted ■ ' 
in a great institution, to lay down the exact Difficulties 

of reform. 

lines upon which his reform should be con- 
structed. He perceives, as I do at this 
moment, that a reform is needed in the par- 
ticular matter of which he is treating; but he 
knows, that so soon as he submits some par- 
ticular suggestions for that reform in question, 
he abandons the abstract for the concrete, 
and often is liable to seem to be answered 
upon the general question, because he himself 
has not been able to satisfy the world as to 
the wisdom or prudence of the particular sug- 
gestions he offers. 

There are four changes which I venture Reforms 

suggested 
tO propose : to increase 

its 

1st. That there should be life-peerages strength. 

r & Life peer- 
granted by the Crown. a g es - 

2ndly. That certain offices, when held for 
a certain term of years, should entitle the Special 
man who has held them to a seat in the 
House of Lords. 

3rdly. That no hereditary peer should be 
able to take his seat in the House of Lords, 



46 LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 

chap, until he had reached the age of thirty ; or had 
' — "^ — ' sat in the House of Commons for five years. 
Quaiifica- 4thly. That an hereditary noble should not 

tions of 

hereditary be obliged to take his seat in the House of 

peers. 

Peers, until ten years had elapsed from his 
succession to the peerage. 

I do not pretend to say, that these are the 
wisest methods for procuring an efficient 
second Chamber, and also for strengthening 
the first Chamber. I am not enamoured 
of any of them ; but they are those which 
have occurred to me as having some feasibi- 
lity in them. All that I am convinced of 
is, that if the government of this country is 
to proceed in the rational and harmonious 
manner, in which it has hitherto proceeded ; 
gathering towards it all those influences, all 
that knowledge, and all that experience, which 
are so rife in a nation of free men ; a reform 
Reform in of the House of Lords must be instituted, 

the House . 

of Lords, which shall tend to attract and to combine 
these great qualifications for central govern- 
ment. 

In this way, or in some other way, adopt- 
ing similar principles, we shall be able to 



LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 47 

make due use of the men amongst us who chap. 

s IV. 

have received most culture, and have profited ' ' 
most from their experience. 

I think, moreover — and this with me is a 
most potent thought — that we should, by some 
of the means I have indicated above, be able to 
obtain the immense advantage of bringing into 
our legislature, men of special acquirements, 
and of special knowledge. We should also Colonists 

in Parlia- 

be able to provide a place in our legislature for ment. 
the most distinguished citizens in our colonies ; 
and, in fine, I believe that we should thus 
attract to a legitimate centre, the ruling 
minds which are scattered throughout our vast 
dominions. At present there is always the 
danger of our legislation becoming local (or, 
as a satirist might say, parochial) — of our 
dominion over this multitude of mixed races, 
whom we very loyally and kindly seek to 
govern with insufficient information, being 
provincial and vice-regal, instead of im- 
perial — and, in short, of our being a kingdom 
with semi-subject realms and loosely-held 
colonies, instead of a united empire. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE POLITICAL AND 
PERMANENT OFFICERS OF STATE. 



CHAP. 
V. 



Political 
and per- 
manent 
officers. 



The per- 

manent 

official. 



A KINDRED subject to legislation and 
-£**- administration, is that of the relative 
position and conduct of the principal legisla- 
tive and administrative functionaries. It is 
an interesting point connected with govern- 
ment, to consider how permanent officers, 
and transitory political officers of a higher 
grade, should act together. It might natu- 
rally be expected, that this conjoint action 
would be somewhat difficult. 

The permanent officer — a permanent 
under-secretary, for instance — is generally 
chosen with great care. He is often a person 
who is distinguished for general knowledge 
and ability. And then, he is likely to have 
an amount of special knowledge which it 
would take many years of official drudgery 



POLITICAL AND PERMANENT OFFICERS. 49 



for the political chief to attain. In fact, to chap. 

use a common phrase, he is the master of ' ' 

the situation; and he may be inclined to The po- 
litical 
make an ungenerous use of his advantages, chiefs. 

On the other hand, a political chief, con- 
scious that all power really rests with him, 
that he has to undertake the defence of 
the Department in Parliament, and that 
he may he misled or overpowered by the 
special knowledge of the permanent func- 
tionary, would naturally, if he were a small- Their diffi- 
culties. 
minded man, be a little tempted to be captious 

and over-bearing. Moreover, he is tempted 
to think, that unless he makes many comments 
and objections to the proposals of the per- 
manent officer, he may be supposed not to 
understand the business at all. In short, 
there are temptations on both sides to in- 
judicious conduct. But whether, to use a Their 

• r • • general 

word which is a great favourite with the relations, 
French people, there is so little that is sinister 
in the nature of the public men of this country, 
or whether it is, that men holding office be- 
come almost immediately attached to their 
Department, and identified with its interests, 

E 



50 POLITICAL AND PERMANENT OFFICERS, 

chap, the practical result is, that these high per- 
' ' ' manent officers, and these still higher political 
personages, as a rule, get on very well to- 
gether. I have uniformly found, that these 
two classes of official men speak well of one 
Mostly another ; become attached to one another ; 

sincere 

friends. and, in short, generally end by becoming 
sincere friends. There is not, indeed, a 
better basis for lasting friendship, than that 
which is elicited, among public men, by work- 
ing together for the same purpose — namely, 
the public good. 

I have thought it right to allude to this 
subject, because, though the apparent dif- 
ficulties are got over in the smoothest way in 
the Government of Great Britain, the matter 
is one which should be carefully looked to, 
and considered in other governments, where 
the political difficulties are much greater, as 
the political world is divided very harshly 
into fiercely-contending parties. 




CHAPTER VI. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT, by which 'is 
meant the government exercised by 
local authorities, in any particular locality, is 
a good measure of the freedom and indepen- 
dence of the individuals composing a State. 
Many of its advantages are obvious — such, for 
instance, as the use to be made of special local 
knowledge ; which kind of knowledge can 
hardly ever be mastered by a central authority. 

But there are also great indirect advan- 
tages attendant upon any system of political 
government, in which local government has 
a large sphere of action. 

In the first place, it compels men who 
would not otherwise be versed in the func- 
tions of government, to learn and exercise the 
art of governing. Again, it furnishes employ- 
ment for those busy, and somewhat restless, 



Advan- 
tages of 
local go- 
vernment. 



It forms 
adminis- 
trators. 



E 2 



52 LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 



chap, persons, who, if they do not find something 

' ' ' to occupy their talents in local affairs, are apt 

to become agitators in Imperial affairs — and 

Occupies that too, with knowledge very dispropor- 

restless m . . 

spirits, tionate to their energy. Moreover, it tends 

to bring men of different classes together in 

the conduct of business ; and there is hardly 

any way by which men can become better 

Brings acquainted, and more readily learn the re- 

classes spective worth of each other, than by being 

together. 

thus associated. 

Again — and this is a point of very great 
importance — it tends to make men tolerant in 
their judgments as to the conduct of Imperial 
affairs. Let a man's sphere of governing be 
ever so limited, he learns to appreciate some 
Teaches of the difficulties of government in general. 

thediffi- . 

cuities of He finds how hard a thing it is to make men 

govern- 

ment. f one mind, and to get real business of any 
kind carried forward, when there is great 
freedom of discussion and of action. Also, 
he becomes cognizant of some of those mat- 
ters connected with government, which only 
experience can teach. For example, he 
learns the value, and somewhat even of the 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 53 



money worth, of a good agent You will chap. 

find, that almost every man who has been ' — 

concerned in governing, is much more liberal 

as regards the payment, and the other re- Value 

& r J ofgood 

wards of agents, than the man who has had agents. 
no experience in that direction. You will 
not find such a man joining in a senseless 
outcry against liberal payment for good work. 
He has discovered, that the first thing is to 
get good work done ; and for this he will 
not grudge its adequate reward. 

In few words, the man who has interested 
himself in local government, is likely to be- 
come a good judge of the proceedings of 
imperial government. 

Now, there is one point connected with Higher 

classes 

this matter to which I must advert, as being should 

take part 

that which relates to the very essence of in local 

govern- 
good local government. It is, that men of meut 

the higher classes should not refuse any op- 
portunity of connecting themselves with 
local government, however humble may be 
the sphere of action proposed for them. 
They should not lay themselves out for 
election to offices connected with local go- 



54 LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 



chap, vernment ; but they should never abstain 
1 ' ' from serving, when elected. Surely every 
man's neighbourhood may very fitly be an 
important centre of his action ; and nothing, 
however minute, connected with the well- 
being of that neighbourhood, is beneath his 
notice, or unworthy even of his utmost at- 
tention. Besides, he will never have a 
better opportunity of acting in concert with 
Advan- those placed in a humbler position than him- 

tages of 

local go- self, and learning what they think and wish 

vernment. 

for, than he will when dealing with matters 
relating to local government. 

It would be premature, and it would be 
somewhat pedantic, to attempt to define, be- 
fore there is any occasion for defining, the 
exact extent of the areas over which se- 
Limitsof parate local governments should have go- 

local go- 
vernment, vernance. 

It would also be difficult to form an exact 

list of the subjects of local welfare, which 

should be submitted to local control. One 

subject, however, there certainly is, which 

Subjects especially belongs to local government, and 

control. that is the sanitary well-being of the local 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 55 



community. This may be taken as an un- chap. 
doubted case, in which local government is ' ■ 
desirable ; and I proceed, in reference to it, 
to say what should, in my judgment, be 
the relations between local and central au- 
thority. 

It is almost needless to observe that, 
if these relations are to be useful to the 
community, they should be thoroughly har- 
monious. At any rate, they should not, by 
their nature, be antagonistic. 

There is no doubt that, in a country like 
Great Britain, possessing a metropolis to 
which all the highest intellect, and the 
greatest experience gravitate, there will be 
a mass of hoarded knowledge, which would 
be invaluable even for the conduct of minute 
local affairs. This is especially to be seen 
in the application of sanitary science. I have 
spoken of the great advantage to be derived Advan- 
from special local knowledge, and from a local 
familiarity with local affairs possessed by the ledge. 
people of any locality. But, as in all human 
affairs there is a drawback attendant upon 
any advantage, so, from this very familiarity 



56 LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 



chap. w ith their own neighbourhood, the local 
vi. > . . 

' ' authority sometimes fails to recognise a local 

danger, or disadvantage. I am not now 

making this statement upon a mere abstract 

view of the question. I have over and over 

again observed, that some important cause of 

sanitary ill-being has not been discovered by 

persons interested in the locality, when a 

skilled person, sent down into the neigh- 

Locai bourhood by central authority, has at once 

knowledge . 1 . . ... . . 

aided by conjectured what was the disturbing cause, 
thority. and has afterwards proved that he was right 
in his conjecture. I have even known, that 
something, which was considered by the 
inhabitants of the district to be a thing of 
beauty or of usefulness, has been the cause 
of great sanitary mischief— a cause easily 
discerned by a skilled person, accustomed 
to consider every variety of sanitary derange- 
ment. Nay more, I have known a town to be 
suffering under great mortality, produced by 
causes, which all the local skill was unable 
to discern, which causes were immediately 
detected by an eminent London physician, 
who happened accidentally to have two or 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 57 



three cases of illness among the inhabitants chap. 
of that town, brought up to him for consul- ' — *• — 
tation. 

The object of the preceding sentences has 
been, to show how great may be the value of 
central knowledge, brought to bear upon any Value of 

central au- 

local difficulty or danger, connected with thority. 

sanitary affairs. A similar argument will 

probably hold good, to a certain extent, as 

regards all local affairs. 

It would be very desirable, that the local 

authority should be on such good terms with To be re- 
cognised 
the central authority, that it should not hesi- as a friend. 

tate to ask for aid and advice in any difficulty. 

At the same time it must be remembered, 

that the duty of the central authority is 

of an Imperial nature ; and that, whether its 

aid is asked for, or not, it must not, know- , 

ingly, allow the existence of dangerous centres 

of disease in any particular locality. Its main 

duty must ever consist in inspection. And inspecting 

. not super- 

here I come to another point, which I regard seding lo- 
cal autho- 

to be one of the utmost importance. I do ri ty. 
not think that it is the duty of the central 
authority to take upon itself, except in cases 



58, LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 



chap, of extreme urgency, the task of executing 
* — ' — local works, and of raising local taxation for 
Except in the purpose of executing those works. I 

extremity. 

am, therefore, constrained to say that some 
of our recent legislation was not well-con- 
sidered in this respect ; and I think that the 
result has shown that this was the case.' 
When the local authority has proved itself 
recalcitrant, it has been found almost impos- 
sible for the central authority to carry out 
the works, which, in their judgment, were 
Defects in requisite ; and for the execution of which, 

recent le~ 

gisiation. they were left to provide the funds by local 
taxation. 

There remain, however, the cases of ex- 
treme urgency, where the central authority 
is convinced that, both for the locality and 
for the State in general, certain things should 
be done, which the local authority resolutely 

Exception- refuses to do. These cases will be rare. 
They should be met, as I think, by laying all 
the facts before Parliament, and demanding a 
local Act for the special purpose in question. 

If Parliament is not sitting, power might 
be given to the Privy Council, or to any 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 59 



office under which sanitary matters may ul- chap. 
timately be placed, 1 to take the necessary ' ' * 
steps for executing the works required, and 
providing the requisite funds. But I do not 
think that, as a general rule, it should be in- How to 
cumbent upon the central authority to remedy 
the laches of the local authority, by under- 
taking functions for the exercise of which 
the central authority is singularly unfit. 

It must be borne in mind that the words 

1 central authority ' are very ' prave 'ords,' what cen- 
tral autho- 
as Fluellen would have said ; but that, when rity really 

is. 

you come to look at the thing closely, ' cen- 
tral authority ' means four or five clever and 
able men, with a staff of secretaries and 
clerks ; and perhaps with a body of inspectors, 
who are skilled persons in their several depart- 
ments of knowledge. But, taken altogether, 
an office which has perhaps a great name and 
great authority, is, after all, not a body com- 
petent to rule or manage local affairs in 
detail, and can only give judicious advice, 
and, in rare cases, judicious aid, to the local 

1 This was written before the passing of the Act con- 
stituting the Local Government Board. 



6o LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 



chap, authority, which must do the work that 



properly belongs to it. 

It is also to be remembered, that any 
government Office which has now, or here- 
after may have, the control of sanitary affairs, 
will have not only those affairs entrusted to 
its supervision, but many other affairs ; and 
that sufficient time and energy will, for the 
most part, be altogether wanting for its 
general business, if it is called upon to carry 
out those details of work which strictly belong 
to local authority, and in which it should, 
at the utmost, have had only the duties of 
advice, aid, and supervision, imposed upon it. 




CHAPTER VII. 

ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN TO THE 
SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 

THIS, and several of the following chap- chap. 
ters, will be devoted to considering *- — ■ — ' 
some of the chief aids that may be obtained 

for government. Among the foremost of Aids need- 
ed by go- 

these aids, may surely be placed the attrac- vemment. 
tion of able men to the government service. 

There is an absolute need for men. Machi- 
nery will not do their work : in fact, the more Abie men 

essential. 

refined, and the more potent the machinery, 
the more intelligent must be the men to guide 
it. Government is not exempt from this 
general rule ; and, as its affairs are more im- 
portant than those of any private individual, 
it mostly requires men of especial ability to 
conduct those affairs. ' I have two hundred 
millions in my coffers,' exclaimed Napoleon, 
' and I would give them all for Ney.' It is 



62 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap, not often that a Napoleon is in desperate need 

' ' — ' of a Ney ; but the great conquerors opinion 

of the value of a man is well indicated by the 
above saying ; and it is an opinion which ought 
to have great weight with all persons who 
have anything to do with the choice of men 
to fill offices of any kind. 
Especially j wou lcl especially notice, that there is more 

in present L J 

age - need now of good men in government em- 

ployment than there ever was— because other 
entities are so strong. In these days Litera- 
ture, Science, Art criticism of all kinds, and 
interests of all kinds are more powerful than 
they ever were : and as government has 
occasionally to combat with, or to protect 
itself against these powers, it is desirable that 
it, too, should proportionately increase in 
power. 

In Great Britain we have, of late, adopted 

Competi- the system of competitive examination, as a 

tive sys- 
tem, means of discerning men's qualifications for 

office. In my judgment, although the system 

has long been adopted in China, it is a most 

inadequate one for its purpose. It detects 

qualifications which are little needed, while, 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 63 

it fails, inevitably, to discover those which are chap. 

. . VIL 

most needed. It is a bringing back of the *- — <■ — ^ 

world to the schools. The main reasons its advan- 
tages. 
given for its adoption are, that it prevents 

jobbery, relieves men in power from importu- 
nity, and encourages education. 

These may be very good objects ; but, Foreign 

to main 

unfortunately, they are foreign to the main object. 
object, which is to choose fit men, and, if 
possible, the fittest men, for certain employ- 
ments. Competitive examination is mainly a 
mode of relieving those persons, who ought to 
have the burden of making a choice, from 
the responsibility of so doing. 

How ineffective this mode of procedure is its ineffi- 
likely to be, may be inferred from the follow- 
ing statement. You wish to ascertain that a 
man will be zealous, faithful, true, reticent, 
cautious, and capable of dealing rapidly with 
current business ; and, also, as he advances in 
office, of taking a certain amount of responsi- 
bility upon himself. You think that you have 
accomplished this end by ascertaining that he 
can construe Latin, and has been crammed 
with a certain knowledge of the facts of 



64 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 



chap, history, which facts, having been devoured 



*■ — ■ — ' rather than digested, stand very little chance 
of being well used by him for the future, and 
will probably be entirely forgotten. 

Proposal As a humorous person, I know, is wont to 

of a hu- 
morous sa y > < if y 0U W ere to try the candidates in 

person. J J J 

whist, there might be a chance of discerning 
whether they would be capable of dealing 
with the real business of the world.' 

There is one very important point to be 
considered in reference to this question ; and 
that is, not only is the talent for acquir- 
ing knowledge not a talent of imperative 
Talent for necessity, as regards the conduct of the busi- 

acquiring t 

knowledge ness of the world, but it is absolutely inju- 

not always 

necessary, rious in some respects. Young people very 
often manifest a readiness to acquire know- 
ledge merely from a certain docility of mind, 
which makes few enquiries, is easily satisfied 
with what the teacher tells it, and never cares 
to take an original and independent view of 
what it is taught. These qualifications are 
exactly opposed to those which are wanted in 
the conduct of business. Putting aside, how- 
ever, for the moment, any conjectures about 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 65 

the matter, I venture to assert that much of chap. 

vii. 
the greatest and the best work in the world ^r^^, 

has been done by those who were anything but 
docile in their youth. This bold statement 
applies, I believe, not only to the greatest men 
in Science, Literature, and Art, but to the 
greatest men in official life, in diplomacy, and 
in the general business of the world. If I Great men 
were asked to point out the men who, in my limited 
experience of public affairs, have shown the 
most remarkable competency for the conduct 
of business, they would, in several instances, 
prove to be men of very limited education. 
One of the principal qualifications for the con- 
duct of business is decisiveness ; and surely 
no one will contend that decisiveness is, of 
necessity, promoted by the acquisition of much 
knowledge in youth. 

What I have said above applies principally Highest 

, education. 

to men who are to be chosen for the per- beneficial 

r- -1 o to states " 

manent Civil Service of the country. The men. 
statesmen who have to take a more pro- 
minent part, whose business it is to argue, to 
explain, if possible to be eloquent, may doubt- 



66 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap, less be greatly benefited by an education of 
' — - — ' the highest kind. 
Certain There is also another point on which I 

primary 

tests re- would guard my previous statements. When 

quisite. & J \ 

I say that I entirely object to competitive 
examination, I do not mean that there should 
be no examination at all for the candidates 
for office ; but it need not be competitive. 
There are certain primary requisites, the 
existence of which may be perfectly ascer- 
tained by examination. For example, there 
are qualifications of the most elementary 
kind in reading, writing (alas ! how seldom 
attained), and arithmetic, which may well be 
insisted upon. I would also add, that the 
digesting of documents, and the making 
abstracts from them, are real tests of the 
fitness of men for official life. But when you 
insist upon acquirements in history, or Latin, 
or mathematics, the question is entirely 
different. 

There is another point I would urge. Some 
of the greatest men never do their best until 
they have realities to deal with. It is in vain 
to tell them that the acquisition of knowledge 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 6 J 

is a reality. They will persevere in being chap. 

playful, indolent, and disinclined to acquire ■ — ' 

knowledge. Once, however, bring these men 
into real life : once show them that what they 
do, may have serious consequences, and they 
are sobered as it were. They exert all their 
powers, and are often found to be the most 
consummate managers of human affairs. 

The foregoing remarks have been directed 
against the system of competitive examination. 
That system has, however, prevailed. The 
only thing now to be done, is to implore all 
those who have power in the matter to resist 
this system being carried to its utmost extent ; Exceptions 

. . . . to be made 

to make exceptions wherever they can, and when P os- 
to reserve for themselves some power of 
choice. 

I feel it but right to say here, something 
respecting the motives of the eminent men 
who have introduced the system of competi- 
tive examination. They saw before them a Motives 
great evil — not exactly the evil of what is petitiye 
called jobbery — but they found that parlia- 
mentary influence was used to an excessive 
extent, and that appointments were given, 



examina- 
tion. 



68 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap, not according to merit, but according to pure 
*■ — ' — "" favour, and it seemed to them that anything 

Abuse of J S 

Pariiamen- WO uld be better than that. 

tary influ- 
ence. g 0j as often happens, the pendulum went 

from one extreme to the other. It was 
held, that because a good choice was pre- 
vented by reason of imperious and un- 
welcome solicitation, it would be desirable to 
take away all power of choice from those 
persons who, it must be admitted, if left 
perfectly free to choose, would have been the 
best persons to make the selection. Other 
motives also influenced the promoters of the 
Further- new system ; as, for example, that education 

ance of i r i i i i • • ' ■ 

education, would be greatly furthered by the institution 
of competitive examination. Moreover, it 
seemed to fall in with the democratic ten- 
dencies of the day, and was so far attractive 
as a political measure. 

All I contend for is, that it will be found 
to fail quite as much as, if not more, than 
the previous system did : notwithstanding 
all the sinister influences which were brought 
to bear upon that. The endeavour to get rid 
of these influences was a worthy one. But 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 69 



it was not desirable that the old system chap. 

vii. 



should be made to give way to one of such *- 
a mechanical character as that which is at 
present in force. After all, if you wish men 
in power to be enabled to choose their agents choice of 

agents. 

and subordinates wisely, you must free them 
from the necessity of yielding to claims, 
based solely upon education and acquirements, 
as well as from the imperious demands of 
political expediency. 

Almost all rules are bad which tend to Lhmta- 

t • r r tion of 

limit the choice of men for employments of any choice 

bad. 

kind. Any rule, for instance about excess of 
age, is injudicious. The powers of different 
men are so various, that it is not too much to 
say, that men are often twenty years younger, 
or older, than their age according to years. If Of age. 
we look at the great events, not only in ancient 
history, but at those of the last few years, we 
shall see that the greatest of these events 
have been carried to a prosperous issue by 
men who were anything but young. 

Now, why should we confine our view in 
this matter to generals, and kings, and states- 
men ? If the view is good for anything, it 



70 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap, applies to all men ; and a more foolish thing 

' ■ — ' is seldom done by any government, by any 

minor body of men, or by any individual, than 
in fixing a limit of age as regards the employ- 
ment of its or his agents. 
other dis- Similar statements might be made as re- 

qualifi- 

cations. gards several of the disqualifications, which 
are frequently set out in the shape of rules 
and bye-laws, and which prevent men from 
choosing those of their fellow-men who would 
be most capable of conducting their affairs. 

Pecuniary Pecuniary disqualification is an instance of 
what I mean. You think to gain a good man 
to manage your affairs, because he happens 
to have a small share in your undertaking. 
It is a great error. You want him to do some- 
thing well which you are going to tell him to 
do. If he has been wisely chosen, and is an 
able man, his pecuniary interest in the matter 
will be mere dust in the balance, when com- 
pared with the desire which belongs to all 
such men to do their work well. On the other 
hand, by insisting upon a pecuniary qualifica- 
tion, you may easily prevent yourself from 
being able to choose the best man. Rules of 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. J I 



this kind generally punish most the men who chap. 



make them. The real reason why men, even "~ ■ ' 
of great ability, whether in government or in 
other public bodies, have circumscribed them- 
selves by these rules and these disqualifica- The right 

placing of 

tions is, that they are not sufficiently pene- men. 
trated by the idea of the value of having the 
right man in the right place. The advantage 
to the world of having men rightly placed is 
almost inconceivable. All success depends 
upon it. It is a thing which cannot be over- 
estimated. Through the most adverse circum- 
stances, the able man will form a path for him- 
self and others. 

There are certain people who will do, and 
do very well, almost anything that you bring 
them to do. They must, however, be fed 
with work. They will not find work for them- 
selves. They are the very persons who do 
well in competitive examinations, but they 
are not capable of originating anything. 

Now the business of the world is continu- Need for 

• r rT* mei1 °f 

ally taking new forms. The troubles of the originating 
world are also continually taking new aspects. 
Nothing, therefore, is more needed in public 



>]2 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap. Offices, than that there should be at least a 

VII. 

*- ■ ' few men of originating minds, who perceive 
and recognise the changes in human affairs, 
and are perpetually on the watch to make the 
working of their respective offices capable of 
coping with these changes of thought, of 
opinion, or of action in the outer world. 
Such men, I contend, must be looked out for, 
by methods very different from those which 
are at present in vogue. 

The foregoing have been general considera- 
tions, but they are peculiarly applicable to the 
conduct of government. 

Pitt and I have been always very much struck by the 

Wolfe. _ . 

way in which the elder Pitt chose Wolfe to 
command the expedition to Canada. Wolfe 
had not the military standing which might 
alone have justified Pitt in choosing him 
as the leader of that expedition. But Pitt 
had heard of this man. The business of every 
statesman is to know a good deal about men. 
Pitt sent for Wolfe, and noted well his answer 
to the question, whether he could do the work 
that had to be done. The great Minister 
understood men ; and by that electric sym- 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 73 

pathy which enables one great man to judge chap. 
almost instantaneously about another, saw *- — ■ — ' 
that this was the right man to be a leader, 
and that he might safely intrust him with 
the conduct of a hazardous expedition. 

It is such insight, on the part of statesmen, 
that I. would trust to in our times, believing 
that it would be far more valuable, and lead 
to much better results, than the limitation, by 
nice rules of forethought, of the choice made 
by statesmen of those agents who, though ob- 
scure, and even rarely known by name to the 
public, form, as it were, the back-bone of the 
administration of every country in the world. 

In answer to the foregoing, it will at once Fear of 

jobbery. 

be said, ' If statesmen are to be thus, with 
scarcely any limit or rule, intrusted with the 
choice of subordinates, how are we to provide 
against jobbery ? ' 

Now, with respect to this ugly term 'job- 
bery/ I must say a few words which merely 
embody my own personal experience. I have 
served under many political chiefs. I suppose 
I must have been very fortunate, that is, if 
this accusation of jobbery is a just one, for, if 



74 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap. I were put in a witness-box, and asked upon 

' — ■ — ' oath, to disclose any particular instance of 

jobbery of which I had been cognisant, I 

should be unable to name a single one. I 

have known my chiefs give anxious hours to 

the consideration of the appointments they 

Practical had to make. They have sometimes con- 
care in 
choosing suited me upon these matters, showing me 

various letters of recommendation and testi- 
monials. I have never had to protest against 
Personal 'jobbery/ All that I have generally had to 

interviews 

desirable, say was, ' See the man of whom you at present 
have the most favourable opinion : see him 
before you make up your mind finally to 
appoint him. For there is something in the 
aspect of a man, which letters of recommen- 
dation and testimonials will not tell you/ 

Occasional I do not mean to maintain, that under any 

errors of 

choice in- system of choice great mistakes will not' be 

evitable. 

made, for it is one of the most difficult pro- 
blems of life to ascertain, beforehand, how a 
man will conduct himself when he is placed 
in any particular office. Strangely enough, 
some of the greatest errors, as regards the 
choice of men, which I have known to be 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 75 

committed under the old system, were com- chap. 

. . . VIL 

mitted by too much attention being given to ' — ■ — ' 

those supposed qualifications which are now 

being crystallized into the main system for 

official appointment. I will give an instance 

of what I mean, which I can without reserve, 

as the persons principally concerned are 

dead. An office requiring great capability Anxiety 

to make 

in dealing with business, fell vacant. The goodap- 

point- 

political chief was extremely anxious to meuts - 
make a good appointment. He instituted 
careful enquiries about the rising young men 
of the day. One morning, when I came into 
his room to receive instructions, he said to 
me with great glee, ' I have found a good man 
for this office. His name is . Double- 
first at Oxford ; and, as you know, has dis- 
tinguished himself since/ The man in ques- 
tion was appointed to the office. He really 
was an able man in his way, but he had one 
fatal defect. He was slow. To speak in the 
language of men who are versed in horse- 
manship, he ' could not go the pace ' that was 
required. There were, for example, about 
ten matters of business which had to be 



yb ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap, brought to him in the course of the day. He 
vii. & . ... 

' ■ — ' was an exacting, fastidious kind of man, and 

could never be persuaded to settle more than 

three of them. The consequence was, that 

Slowness the business in question fell off from him, and 

a fatal 

defect. was carried to a man in another department, 
of very limited education, but who was a 
fine reasoner, a master of expression, and 
altogether an admirable man of business. 
Now the error of my chief, and, I must con- 
fess, my error too, for I believed that our office 
was most fortunate in securing the services 
of this young man, was in giving too much 
credence to that ' double-first,' and to con- 
sequent distinction in matters which had 
nothing whatever to do with promptitude 
in business. 

What now is a most valuable aid in the 
choice of a man to fill up any office is, the 

Valuable opinion, if you can get it honestly given, of 

opinions 

ofexpe- older and more experienced men, about the 

rienced 

men. qualifications of a candidate. Here, again, I 

will give a practical instance of what I mean. 
There was a rising young statesman, whose 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 77 



merits, however, had hitherto only been ac- chap. 

J VII. 



knowledged by making him Master of the ■ — ' 

Buckhounds — an office not necessarily requir- 
ing much skill in statesmanship. Two elderly 
statesmen were discussing the merits of this Example 

of the non- 

young man. They agreed that there was the competi- 

J ° J S tivesys- 

stuff in him, to make a man of the utmost tem - 
eminence in statesmanship. They are both 
dead now, or they might have seen how 
amply their prognostications have been ful- 
filled. For they would see him acting, under 
most difficult circumstances, as the leader of 
his party in one of the Houses of Parliament. 
With all respect for that eminent personage, 
I am by no means sure that he would have 
arrived at his present position if he had had 
to attain it through a series of competitive 
examinations. How should we have been 
able to ascertain, by the means of such 
examinations, his tact, his keen appreciation 
of the weight of argument on the other 
side, as well as on his own side, his for- 
bearance in debate, and, which is one of the 
most remarkable qualifications he possesses, 



j8 ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN 

chap, his skill in eliciting most rapidly, from a 
' — ■ — ' large mass of facts submitted to him, those 
which are essential to the subject, and 
which will suit his purpose ? And yet, I fear 
this statesman is one of those who believes 
in, or least consents to, this system of com- 
petitive examination, not seeing that what he 
feels and knows would be inapplicable to 
men in his position, is also inapplicable as 
regards the choice of men to fill inferior offices 
in the State. 

A man, who has had large and long ex- 
perience of the public service, when speaking 
of the choice of men to fill public Offices, has 
been heard to say, ' All would go well in the 
a novel way of choice, if only each man were allowed 
t!on POS1 to choose his own immediate inferior/ This 
novel proposition is not likely ever to come 
into vogue ; but it has great merits to recom- 
mend it, and there are occasions in which 
it might be partially adopted. For instance, 
when a Department of the State is divided 
into several sections, and a vacancy occurs 
in any one of them, it is probable that 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT 79 

there is no one who would take such pains c ^ p ' 
in making, or recommending a good appoint- ' ' 
ment, as the person who has the charge of 
the work of that section, as the head of it. 

The man who made this original sugges- Depen- 

. , dence on 

tion might have urged, as a potent motive inferiors. 
for its adoption, that each one of us is more 
dependent upon his immediate inferior, than 
even upon his immediate superior. 

It is the inferior who can most surely make 
one's life miserable, by tiresomeness, or mis- 
conception, or inactivity. 

Finally, when by any process of selection, impor- 
you are fortunate enough to have got good keeping 



men con- 



men to serve you, you must take care to tent 
keep them satisfied. As Sir Henry Taylor 
has well remarked in his ■ Statesman/ that 
most men are disheartened if they do not, 
in the course of a certain period, say ten 
years, obtain a distinct rise in their positions. 
This I believe to be true ; and it requires 
considerable care to provide for this desirable 
object on behalf of your best servants, whether By due 
public or private. To do so is especially tion m °* 



* 



8o 



CHAP. 
VII. 



Absolute 
rules im- 
possible. 



Absence 
of public 
applause. 



Rewards 
available. 



ON ATTRACTING ABLE MEN. 

difficult in public offices, because the rate of 
promotion must greatly depend upon the num- 
ber of persons employed in the office, and 
also upon various accidental circumstances. 
It is impossible to lay down any precise rules 
for the attainment of this object ; and I can 
only remark, that it is one which, from time to 
time, requires attention from those political 
personages who are placed at the head of 
public Departments. 

It must be remembered, that the work of 
the permanent civil servants of the Crown is 
necessarily of an obscure character. It is not 
rewarded in the manner in which other ser- 
vice is often rewarded in the outer world, 
namely, by increasing fame and reputation. 
The merits of the most eminent of the per- 
manent civil servants are known to very few 
persons ; which makes their position especially 
dependent upon the discriminating kindness 
of their chiefs. There are but two modes of 
rewarding eminent public service of the kind 
alluded to, namely, increase of pay, and the 
conferring of honours. The consideration of 



TO THE SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT 8 1 

this last mode of reward naturally brings me chap. 

to the discussion of the general subject of ' ■ — ' 

honours, which I shall deal with in the next 
chapter. 

Before, however, commencing that subject, 
I must add something which, to my mind, 
has a certain appropriateness in regard to 
many things that have been said in the 
foregoing pages. 

In one of Schiller's plays there is a Moor The Moor 

and his 

who has done good service to his master, master. 
That master has the folly, more than once, 
to dismiss the Moor somewhat abruptly, and 
to intimate that there will soon come a time 
when he will not need his services any more. 
This rankles in the heathen's breast, and 
when alone, he more than once shows what 
his feelings are, by such words as these : ' The 
Moor has done his work : the Moor can 
go.' 1 Before going, however, he resolves to 
undo all his work, by betraying his master, 
who is at the head of a conspiracy. 

1 „2)er 2ftor)r §at feme 5lr£eit getfjart: ber. 3)to^x farm 
ge^ert." 

G 



82 ABLE MEN— SERVICE OF GOVERNMENT. 

chap. Now, there is no danger in Great Britain 
— " — ' of betrayal on the part of public servants ; 
but the reflection contained in those few 
simple words, ' The Moor has done his 
work : the Moor may go,' is a very chilling 
and depressing one ; and it is not desirable 
that it should enter largely into the minds 
of those who are connected with the public 
service. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 

THE conferring of honours is a most im- chap. 
portant function of government ; and, * — *— ' 
throughout the world, it is a function in import- 
which there is much abuse. In George III.'s conferring 
time there was a man who had rendered rightly. 
some political service to the government, 
(political service in those days not being a 
thing of the highest merit), and this man 
wished to be allowed to drive through the 
park. ' No, no,' said the King, ' we cannot do 
that ; but you may make him an Irish baron a case of 
if you like ;' and an Irish baron he was made. 
This is a ludicrous instance of the abuse of 
honours ; but, without descending into particu- 
lars, which would be a very invidious mode of 
procedure, we may admit that the British 
government has not, for several generations, 
distinguished itself by the way in which it 

G 2 



84 THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 

chap, has exercised the high prerogative of confer- 
' ' ' ring honours. 
Honours There is a foolish notion that, as civilization 

not less 

wanted as advances, honours are less coveted, and are 

civilization 

advances. l ess potent This is an entire mistake. 

The first Napoleon, whatever his demerits 

may have been, was a man who, it must be 

admitted, knew something of the world. 

There is a memorable observation of his, 

Napo- on one Sunday afternoon, when he heard the 

leon's opi- 
nion on church bells ringing - , and when he said that 

honours. ° ° 

* Religion and honours were the two things 
by which mankind may be governed ' — an 
assertion which, I think, will not be disputed 
by those who have had much converse with 
their fellow-men. 
Abuse of I shall take a peculiar mode of expressing 

them illus- 
trated. a ll I think with regard to the abuses at present 

existing in the distribution of honours, illus- 
trating my meaning by four fables. The first 
will be from that eminent fabulist, the Rus- 
sian Krilof. The other fables are from a 
very inferior hand. 
Kniofs Krilof tells us, that the eagle promoted a 

cuckoo to the rank of nightingale. The 



fable 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 85 

cuckoo undertook its part, and sang accord- chap. 
ingly. The other birds fled away in disgust, — ■ — ■" 

Cuckoo 

or were convulsed by that twittering which and 

eagle. 

corresponds to human laughter. 

The cuckoo complained to the eagle, and 
said, ' I have been appointed nightingale to 
these woods, and yet the birds dare to twitter 
at my singing/ 

The eagle replied, 'lama king, but I am 
not God. I can order a cuckoo to be styled 
a nightingale, but to make a nightingale out 
of a cuckoo — that I cannot do.' * 

I now proceed to give some fables of the The 
English author. There was a boar who some boar. 
rooted up his master's pastures. The farmer 
resolved to put a stop to this, by putting a 
ring in the nose of the boar. This was soon 
done ; and though the animal made a great 
noise about the operation, it was not more 
painful than putting ear-rings into a girl's 
ears — a common practice in nations not sup- 
posed to be barbarous. 

The boar was very proud of his nose- ring, 

1 Krilof and his Fables, by W. Ralston, of the British 
Museum. Strahan and Co., 1S71. 



86 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 



CHAP. 
VIII. 



Fable of 
the king 
and his 
counsel- 
lors. 



and told the other denizens of the farmyard 
that he was the only animal among them 
worthy of being thus decorated. 

When, however, the boar was driven into 
the open pastures, he found that he was un- 
able to get at the sweet roots, and must 
content himself with what he found on the 
surface. 

Now swine are very clever creatures, and 
the boar said to himself, ' I see why they 
gave me this odious nose-ring. It was not 
for honour, but to prevent me from rooting in 
the fields so much/ 

Therein he was wiser than many men, who 
do not perceive that honours are conferred 
upon them, to prevent them from continuing 
to be as troublesome and mischievous as they 
have hitherto proved themselves to be. 

The next fable is this. On an island, which 
has been a long time discovered, but of which 
I forget the name, there was a simpleton, 
who had been blessed with a clever grand- 
father, and a prudent father ; so, that when the 
father died, that simpleton possessed many 
bags of gold. Whereupon the king of the 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. Sj 

island said, ' Bring me the pebble that shines chaf. 
like a star, and I will tie it on his arm, and he ' r ~^ 
shall be one of my counsellors.' ' Nay, but 
his wisdom is of little account,' said one of 
the wisest and the most daring of the king s 
counsellors. ' Who am I,' replied the king, 
1 that I should contend with Providence ? 
It is wise to favour those whom the gods 
favour. Besides, if I do not sometimes call, 
a simpleton to my councils, how shall I know 
what the other simpletons think ? And they 
are numerous in my kingdom, and must be 
cared for.' 

The fourth fable is this. In. remote Thibet The wan- 

dering 

there was a wandering tribe. As they lived tribe. 
chiefly on milk and honey, and moved ever 
into fresher air, they lived very long lives. 
They had also a great respect for old age. 
But the destroyer, Time, is not to be baulked 
of his labours; and, even in this wandering 
tribe, as men grew old, they became less 
vigorous, or less wise, or less able to express 
their wisdom. 

Their wanderings were confined to a nar- 
rower circle. They trod over again the same 



88 THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 



chap, ground ; and there was scarcity in the camp 
■ ' for them and their herds. 

A secret council was held by the young and 
the middle-aged members of the tribe, where- 
upon a shrewd man arose and said, ' Let us 
always pay honour to our grandfathers, but 
let us not be starved by them. There is a 
herb in the plains, from which a beautiful 
blue juice may be extracted. Let us make 
long robes, from the wool of our flocks, and 
colour them with the juice of this herb. Then 
let us put these robes of honour on the old 
men of the tribe whose wisdom is failing, or 
who can only mutter forth their wisdom indis- 
tinctly, so that we do not know what it means. 
When they have their long blue robes, they 
will not like to go through the bushes and the 
brambles, but will stay at home, with the 
women in the camp ; and when we have found 
a new camping place, we can come back for 
them. Thus they will receive all due honour, 
and will not be an incumbrance upon our 
Common movements.' 

for be- These four fables indicate the spirit in 

honours, which honours have too often been granted by 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 89 

all modern governments. There is honour chap. 
& m VIII. 
given to one man from pure favour, without > — ' 

any pretence of merit on his part, as when Favour. 
the cuckoo was appointed by the eagle to 
be nightingale of the woods ; but notwith- 
standing the favour of the eagle, the cuckoo 
could not sing. 

There is honour conferred upon another Fear, 
because he is tiresome, and, like the boar in 
the fable, is apt to injure his master by 
rooting too much. 

There is honour conferred upon a third, Riches. 
however small may be his deserts, merely 
because he is rich. Now when Reynard 
the Fox said that ' Gold lends mighty force to 
words,' 1 there was great truth in the remark, 
as in most of Reynard's sayings. But .what 
he meant was, that gold should accompany 
the words, and not merely be uttered by 
those who profess much gold, and retain it. 

To a fourth, an honour is given because Age. 
he is old and worn out, and his place is 
wanted for a wiser and stronger man ; or, as 

1 „ ^rafttgen 9to<$bnt<f fotlte bag (Mb ben SBotten btxUifyn." 



90 THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 



chap, it often happens, not for a wiser and stronger 



man, but for one who can adapt himself to 
the new creed, whatever that may be. 

To such a length has this last mode of 
giving honour gone, that a humorous person 
whom I know is wont to say ' Though a 
sickly man, I think I have some twenty years 
of life and work in me ; but if the govern- 
ment of the day were to offer me an honour, 
I should go home to bed, and prepare for 
death ; for I should know that my physician 
had betrayed me to them, and that he had 
discerned in me a likelihood of rapid failure 
of the vital powers. Otherwise, this honour 
would not have been offered to me. I am. a 
meek man, and not willing to resist, when a 
decision, almost as sure as fate, has been 
pronounced upon me.' 

I have dealt with this subject somewhat 
playfully ; for, though it is a very serious 
matter, it will insist upon presenting itself to 
me in a somewhat ludicrous light. I might 
have given another instance, in which some 
great personage being received as a guest at 
a banquet, given by one who is accustomed to 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 9 1 

give good cheer, forthwith rewards his en- chap. 

tertainer by conferring upon him an honour. , — ^ 

Now to speak most seriously, all these Detri- 
mental 
modes of conferring honour are a thorough honours. 

detriment, and an abiding disgrace to govern- 
ment. The disgrace will be easily perceived 
by all thoughtful people ; but the detriment 
is not quite so clear. What, however, we 
want in the award of honours is, that it 
should be an aid and an encouragement to 
men in the full possession of their powers of 
mind and body ; should be made without 
fear or favour ; should not be used as a gag How 

honours 

to silence the tiresome, or as a clog to slacken should not 

be used. 

the pace of those who are prone to be too 
swift in their recklessness ; should not be 
employed as a bribe, to make men pleasantly 
resign offices, for which, from age or other 
causes, they are unfit or are supposed to be 
unfit ; but that it should be made according 
to some principles of justice, and be so widely 
as well as impartially granted, that it should 
tend to adorn, dignify, and combine together, 
for the public good, the most deserving men 
throughout this vast empire. 



02 THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 

chap- I do not mean to say that the recognition 
■ ' of a man's services, however tardy, is not 
a good and desirable thing, as being an ex- 
pression of gratitude. Looking, however, at 
the matter from the point of view that a 
statesman should take, it seems, that an 
honour should not only be a recognition of 
past services, but that it should also give 
increased weight and influence to a man, who 
will continue to be of service to the State. 
Advantage I cannot conclude this chapter without 

of a right 

system. mentioning two important indirect advan- 
tages which would follow from a liberal and 
judicious system of awarding honours. 

The first advantage would be, that due en- 
couragement would be given to various kinds 
of merit and eminence. At present, that 
qualification which is chiefly rewarded and 
honoured in this country is the power of 
public speaking. 

Evils of a Two evils proceed from this narrow system 

wrong 

system. of reward and honour. 

In the first place, this talent of public 
speaking is inordinately encouraged ; and 
men rise to power who do not possess some 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 93 

of the most important qualifications for mak- chap. 
ing a good use of power. The second evil ' ' 
is, that other qualifications are discouraged, 
and that many men are led to undertake a 
career for which they are not fitted; while 
they neglect a career in which they might 
have done good service to the world. 

The other great advantage, which would 
accrue from a more judicious mode of distri- 
buting honours, is of a thoroughly indirect 
character, but not on that account of less 
importance. It were to be wished, that a seats in 
seat in Parliament were not so desirable an ment. 
object, from a social point of view, as it cer- 
tainly has become. There are some men 
who have attained to eminence in pursuits 
very foreign to Parliamentary life, but are 
not, on that account, unfitted for it. They 
are men who take a very wide interest in 
human affairs, and bring all their special 
knowledge to bear upon questions of legisla- 
tion. They seldom shine in debate ; but 
they are pre-eminent in committees ; and, 
though not ' to the manner born,' they often 
prove to be most valuable members of Parlia- 



94 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 



CHAP. 
VIII. 



Political 
evils cre- 
ated. 



Demand 
for seats 
in Parlia- 
ment ex- 
cessive. 



ment. But, on the other hand, there are 
those who, whether from the possession of 
large tracts of land, or great riches, or 
perhaps by the exercise of qualities, which in 
no respect fit them to become legislators, 
have become notable, and who seek a seat in 
Parliament, merely in order to put a seal, as 
it were, upon the position they have attained 
in other pursuits. They would, probably, 
not be so ardent in the pursuit of this form 
of distinction, if other forms were open to 
them. 

Very serious political consequences follow 
upon this state of things. A number of men 
are introduced into Parliament, who, accord- 
ing to the hypothesis, have no especial claim 
to be there, and who occupy the place, we 
will not say of better men, but of men better 
trained to fill that position. 

A still graver consequence follows. The 
demand for seats in Parliament becomes ex- 
cessive in reference to the supply. It in- 
evitably follows, that the person wishing to 
be elected is prone to make unreasonable 
concessions to every wish of the electors, and 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS. 95 

not only of the electors as a body, but to any chap. 
small section of electors which has any par- "" ' ' 
ticular crotchet to further, or self-interest to 
serve, thereby the candidate is in imminent 
danger of becoming a delegate rather than 
representative. 

I suppose that it will be admitted by all The true 

. . * t 1 relation 

those persons who have studied representa- between 

1 1 . . electors 

tive government, that there is, speaking in and elec- 
ted, 
the abstract, a certain relation which might 

subsist between the electors and the elected, 

which would be perfect of its kind. Such a 

relation would give a due influence to the 

electors, while it would preserve the enormous 

benefit to be derived by the comparatively 

unfettered thought of an able man, being 

brought to bear upon political questions. 

It may well be doubted whether the elector 

has not now too potent an influence over the 

candidate, or over the elected person ; and 

whether, thereby, there is not some fear lest 

we should dwarf the reasonable independence 

of thought and action which is essential to 

the making of a good representative ? 




CHAPTER IX. 

COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND OTHER 
SIMILAR AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. 

chap. npHERE is hardly a more difficult thing 

IX. 

* — ■ — ' -&- connected with government, than to 
The use of make good use of these aids to administra- 

councils. . 

tion. lhere are certain matters which are 
best treated by the clear decisiveness of one 
man, while there are others which are 
decidedly best treated by conjoint counsel, 
or after having been submitted to a council. 

In affairs of much perplexity and variety 
of circumstances, it very rarely happens that 
any one man is master of all the facts, and 
all the circumstances, which are needful to 
be known in order to arrive at an exhaustive 
result. 

Moreover, in matters wherein there is 
danger of much odium, whatever determina- 
tion may be arrived at, it certainly elicits 



AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. 97 



boldness of decision to act by means of a chap. 

. IX - 

council or commission. The well-known ' ■ — ' 

passage in the Bible, ' In a multitude of a text 
counsellors there is safety/ has frequently a PP re- 
been misconstrued. It does not allude to 
the safety of the counsel, but of the coun- 
sellors. 

In a council, a timid man will be bold, or, 
at any rate, so far bold that he will be willing 
to take his full share of responsibility as one 
of a number ; whereas, if he were the sole 
person to decide, he might be oppressed by 
the sense of responsibility, and endeavour to 
evade coming to any decision at all. 

There are two principal heads under which Two kinds 
councils may be classed. One in which the executive ' 
council is executive, and has not only a final 
decision in any matter submitted to it, but 
subsists as a permanent body ; the other in and con- 
which the council is purely consultative, and 
has only to give advice. 

Moreover, there are other characteristics 
which tend to cause considerable differences 
in the constitution and functions of council, 



98 COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND 

chap, whether executive or consultative. A council 

IX. 

s ' " may be representative as well as executive. 
Again, it may only have to decide upon some 
particular act to be done by it, but may not 
have to continue as an executive body in 
directing all the work that has to follow from 
that one act. 

Special Great attention should be . paid to the 

nature to 

be noted, special nature of the council, by those who 
have to call it together, and to profit by its 
counsels. For example, in a purely consul- 
tative council, it will be found that the 
counsellors will be prone to ignore difficul- 
ties in action, and will recommend courses of 
conduct, which they might hesitate to recom- 
mend if they were the persons who would 
have to carry into effect their own recom- 
mendations. 

Tendency Again, a representative council will natu- 

of repre- 
sentative rally have (whether consciously or uncon- 
sciously) an inclination to accommodate its 
proceedings to the state of knowledge and 
opinion of the outer world ; and each coun- 
sellor will be prone to give advice, of such a 



councils. 



OTHER SIMILAR AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. 99 

nature as those whom he represents would chap. 
wish him to give. Doubtless this leaning "~~^ 
towards the outer world will be greater or 
smaller, according to the more or less pub- 
licity given to the proceedings of the council. 

In any council, you will have a great chance 
of hearing, not only what is best to be done, 
but what can be done with reference to the 
state of public feeling and opinion. You will 
have the opportunity of hearing what unwise 
persons may think, or have to say about the 
matter in question ; and therein even a fool- 
ish, obstinate, argumentative, or perverse 
person may be very useful, and his presence 
in the council may be of much worth and 
significance. 

Altogether, there are immense advantages Advantage 
to be derived from councils ; but these ad- from 
vantages will only be derived by those per- 
sons who know how to make the proper use 
of them. It is a sign of great weakness in a 
government, when it submits too much of its 
current business to councils, commissions, or 
bodies of a like nature ; and it should be 

H 2 

LofC. 



IOO COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND 

chap, carefully noted what kind of business is fit 
' • ' to be submitted to the arbitrament of a 
council. The business should rather be of 
that nature which involves principles to be 
considered or rules to be determined. A 
council is a very unfit body to determine 
questions of language or expression ; and will 
waste any amount of time in yain attempts 
to insure great nicety and accuracy of expres- 
sion. That kind of work is seldom well 
done except by one man ; and even the great 
masters of language require, while they are 
working, to be undisturbed and unfettered by 
criticism, and to be able to deal with the 
matter as a whole. No man expresses any- 
thing exactly like another man ; and if you 
wish a document to have a certain clearness 
and completeness in its expression, it should, 
if possible, be drawn up by one person, or at 
least be finally submitted to one person, as 
far as the language is concerned. 
Charac- In the conduct of councils there are several 

teristics to 

be noted, things to be observed by those who would 
make judicious use of such bodies, and espe- 
cially by those who are placed at the head 



OTHER SIMILAR AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. IOl 



of them. In this world so many things are chap. 
decided by fatigue. The council, if not ' ■ — 



guided by a skilful person in its discussions, Fatigue 

an impor- 

will waste its time upon minor points, and in tant ele- 
ment. 

combating the unreason or the argumenta- 
tiveness, of some one or more of its members ; 
and then, at the last, a hasty decision has to 
be formed, which may be anything but the 
wisest which could be formed. Lord Bacon 
has given the world an essay on councils, 
full, as might be expected, of valuable 
thought, and not disdaining to discuss points 
apparently somewhat insignificant, such as 
the shape and size of the council table ; but 
he does not notice the effect of weariness. 
This omission may be accounted for by the 
greater powers of endurance of our ancestors, 
who, moreover, were trained to listen to long 
discourses patiently, and were not so much 
oppressed by a variety of business as we, the 
men of the present generation, are. With us 
I doubt not that the effect of weariness is 
one of the main elements of decision in any 
assemblage of men. 

Then, there is always the difficulty of eli- 



102 COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND 

chap, citing the opinions of those members of the 
' ■ ' council, who are very reserved and modest 
in the expression of their opinions. I have 
known instances in which the man, most fitted 
to direct the council, has not once had an 
opportunity of fairly bringing forward what 
he has thought and felt upon the matter in 
question. And that, too, in a council, com- 
mission, or board, which has sat for many 
days to consider the particular question. A 
man of the kind I mean, has strong and clear 
opinions ; but is of a modest and retiring 
nature. In the course of the discussions he 
ascertains, or rather thinks that he ascertains, 
that his views will not meet with any response 
from his colleagues ; and, accordingly, he is 
entirely silent about them. It is especially 
the business of the chairman, or leading person 
in the council, to take care that the views 
and opinions of these reserved persons should 
Choice of not fail to be brought forward. It often 
man. happens that the best choice of a chairman is 

to be made by selecting one who, perhaps, 
is not particularly cognizant of the matter in 
hand ; but who is skilful in discerning charac- 



OTHER SIMILAR AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. 103 



ter, and has the tact and judgment necessary chap. 

1A.. 



for eliciting fully the opinions of all those " 
over whom he presides. This is especially 
necessary when the councils or such like 
bodies are of a temporary character ; but it is 
also requisite in permanent Boards. A man 
may have had a place in such a Board for 
many years, and yet never have given an 
entirely unreserved opinion upon the matters 
that have come before him in that conjoint 
capacity. 

There is another point of practice to be Sections 

of councils 

considered in reference to permanent Boards, should in- 

. . terchange 

In order to facilitate the transaction of busi- duties. 
ness, special matters are entrusted to par- 
ticular sections of these Bodies. If this 
practice is made absolute, and there is no 
interchange of duties, much of the value of 
a council, or other governing body, may be 
lost. The head of the Department should 
take care to vary the duties of these sections, 
and occasionally to contrive to obtain that 
diversity of opinion upon important matters, " 
which prevents their falling into a course of 
abject routine, as will be the case if the same 



104 COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND 

chap, class of subjects is always submitted to the 
- — ■ — ' same section of the Board. 

In the construction of councils there is a 

practice frequently to be observed which 

seems to me most objectionable, and that is, 

Ex-offido the placing a number of ex-officio counsellors 

members 

of council on the council. I suppose there must be 

of little m # 

advantage, some advantage in this proceeding, as it has 
been adopted in all ages, and by most nations. 
But it seems to me to be one of those timid, 
insincere modes of action, which are sure to 
lead to unfavourable results, even though it 
may be difficult to point out the exact nature 
of the injury done. There are, however, 
two manifest objections to this mode of pro- 
cedure. One is, that the responsibility of the 
acting few must thereby be diminished ; and 
the other is, that fit men are kept out of the 
council, because it appears already to be 
sufficiently large. 

There is another remark which I will ven- 
ture to make in reference to almost all 
councils, and other similar Bodies, called to- 
gether to deliberate or direct. This is, that, 
as a general rule, these Bodies should not be 



OTHER SIMILAR AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. 105 

unpaid. Payment, even of very small sums, chap. 

inevitably carries with it an increase of re- ' ■ — ' 

sponsibility. In some great central sun it 
may be possible to get the best work done 
gratuitously ; but in the minor planetary 
bodies, such as our Earth, I doubt whether 
this can ever be accomplished. I have said 
' the best work ' advisedly, for I do not doubt 
that work can often be moderately well done 
without any payment being made for it. 

In fine, the utility of councils may be divined Special 

utility 

from this one fact — that no one man is as of coun- 
cils. 
wise as all other men, or even as any four or 

five other men. He may be swifter, he may 
be more decisive, but he is never so compre- 
hensive and so various. From the earliest 
ages to the present time there have always 
been councils and similar aids to government ; 
and there never will be any form of govern- 
ment, to the aid and enlightenment of which 
such bodies will not be summoned. He 
who knows how to make good use of them, 
and how, as much as possible, to avoid a 
certain weakness and dilatoriness inherent in 
them, will show forth one of the greatest 



106 COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS, AND 

chap, merits which a statesman can possess. He 

' ' — ' cannot see and listen to the whole world ; 

but, by making use of councils, he may attain 
to something of a cosmopolitan view, or, at 
any rate, may learn the views, wishes, and 
opinions of large bodies of his fellow-men. 
If he is very skilful, he may combine the 
advantages of varied thought and conjoint 
action, with somewhat of the singleness of 
purpose, and the directness of executive 
action, which are the property of an individual 
ruler. 
Machia- There is a chapter in Machiavelli's 

velli's 

ciassifica- ' Prince,' in which he treats, in his lucid 
intellects, manner, of the qualifications which should 
be found in the secretaries and ministers of 
princes. In the course of that chapter he 
makes the following general remark : — 
' There are three kinds of intellects : one 
kind understands by its own insight; the 
second discerns those things which another 
understands ; and the third neither under- 
stands of its own accord, nor by the demon- 
stration made by another person : the first 
kind of intellect is most excellent, the second 



OTHER SIMILAR AIDS TO GOVERNMENT. 107 



excellent, the third useless.' l The foregoing chap. 



is not an ill-arranged division of intellects ; ' ■ " 
but I venture to think that certain additions 
might be made to it, or, at any rate, certain 
sub-divisions might be introduced. For in- Might 
stance, there is the intellect which combines enlarged. 
the advantages of the two former of Machia- 
velli's classes — namely, the intellect which 
can discern very well, by its own force and 
insight, but is also equally skilled in seizing 
at once, and benefitting by what Machiavelli 
calls the ' demonstration ' of others. Again, 
there is, certainly, the intellect which, however 
powerful, and justly coming within the first 
class, is affected by that peculiar want of 
sympathy which makes it prone to reject, 
at once, whatever is offered by another mind. 
The former of these two subdivisions of 
intellect will make the proper use of coun- 
cils as of the individual intellects with which 

1 E perche sono di tre generazioni cervelli : l'uno 
intende per se ; Y altro discerne quelli che altri intende ; 
e il terzo non intende per se stesso, ne per dimostrazione 
di altri : quel primo e eccellentissimo, il secondo eccel- 
lente, il terzo inutile.—// Principe, cap. xxii., De' segre- 
tarj de' prineipi. 



108 COUNCILS, COMMISSIONS, BOARDS. 

chap, it may be brought in contact. The latter is, 
■ — ■ — ' for the most part, incapable of making a due 
use of other men's intellects ; and, in the pre- 
sent day, when the range of a statesman's 
vision is required to be so extensive, and 
when there are so many more demands upon 
his time, than there were upon the time 
of statesmen in former days, this defect will 
be found to be a defect of the most serious 
nature. 




CHAPTER X. 



THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



IT seems possible that, as the world ad- 
vances, new forms of government, or, as I 
should rather say, newly-constituted bodies of 
men assembled for governing, may be devised 
or adopted according to the needs which, 
from time to time, may arise for fresh govern- 
ment material. 

Now there is in Great Britain a most ser- 
viceable body of men, which has extensive 
functions thrown upon it, and which I con- 
ceive has hardly ever been sufficiently noted 
by constitutional historians. I mean the 
Privy Council. I do not know that in any 
other country there is anything exactly ana- 
logous to the Privy Council of England ; and 
there have been occasions of danger in the 
histories of most nations, when the existence 
of such a body would have been a great 



New 
modes of 
govern- 
ment pos- 
sible. 



Privy 
Council 
of Great 
Britain. 



tution. 



IIO THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

chap, safeguard to the State — while in ordinary 
r times, it would have been of great service to 
the State. If we look at the constitution of 
its consti- the Privy Council, it must be owned, that it 
is a very felicitous one ; and, speaking in 
the abstract, gives promise of high utility. 
Doubtless its constitution was not designed 
to be what it is now ; but the thing has 
grown up to be what it is, 1 as indeed has 
happened in regard to several of the most 
important governing bodies in Great Britain. 
The peculiar felicity of the constitution of the 

1 The functions of the Privy Council in ancient times 
were not very dissimilar from those which are performed 
by it at the present time. Those functions were legis- 
lative, judicial, and administrative. Sometimes, as Mr. 
Hallam mentions, the Privy Council made ordinances 
' upon request of the Commons in Parliament, who felt 
themselves better qualified to state a grievance than to 
provide a remedy.' It was in the constitution of the 
Board that it differed from the Council of modern times. 
It was entirely the creature of the King. For example, 
under Edward the First, the Privy Council consisted of 
his Ministers for the time being, including the King's Ser- 
jeant, the Attorney-General, and some of the Judges. 
It was not a Council retaining in its body those persons 
who had filled high offices of State, and who, in its 
present constitution, are not displaced because theii 
party is gone out of power. 



THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN. Ill 

Privy Council consists in its including almost chap. 

x. 

all those persons who have borne high office ' ■ ' 

in the country. We have in it, therefore, a 

body which .attaches and assimilates to itself 

the most tried, if not the most capable, men 

of all parties that have in turn predominated 

in the State. 

Of the matters that come before govern- Adminis- 

ment to be decided, there is perhaps not one rarely con- 
cerned 
in a hundred that is of a purely party nature, with party 

questions. 

I speak, of course, of administration, and not 
of legislation. But, notwithstanding that the 
immense majority of the matters in question 
have nothing to do with politics, party spirit 
would often be suspected to be concerned in 
the decision of them. It is, therefore, most 
useful that there should be a body, formed of Benefit of 
the best men of business of all parties, from commit- 
amongst whom committees may be chosen to 
hear and decide upon many of the vexed 
questions of the day. 

The power of calling such committees into They are 
being, has by no means fallen into desuetude ; 
and, no doubt, it must give much satisfaction 
to those persons whose claims are decided by 



112 THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

the Privy Council, to perceive that their cases 
are heard before committees composed of men 
of different political opinions. 

This, however, is not the only use of a 
Power of Privy Council. It is in times of emergency 

the Privy \ 

Council, that its merits are most fully tested. The 
great art of government would be, to com- 
bine the power of despotic action in times of 
emergency, with great latitude of freedom in 
ordinary times. A State is very poorly off 
for governing power which, on any emer- 
gency, has to resort to the cumbrous expe- 
dient of summoning legislative assemblies, 
and waiting to act in accordance with their 
views. On the other hand, it is hardly to 
be expected, especially in these times, when 
responsibility is dreaded more than anything, 
that ' the Executive,' as it is called, should 
act with the necessary speed and vigour on 
occasions of great danger and difficulty. 

its high It is then, that, before all things, you want 

a consultative body, not of large numbers, 
not of one form of politics, not inexperienced 
in business ; but which has the power to 
direct the immediate execution of the mea- 



utility. 



THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN, 113 

sures it may resolve to take. Such a body chap 

Great Britain is fortunate enough to possess *" ■ ' 

in her Privy Council — a body, as I have said 

before, unknown elsewhere ; and it is to be 

hoped that amidst the many changes which 

are to be seen in these times, if any change 

is to be made in the Privy Council, it may 

be such as will tend to strengthen, rather 

than to weaken that important body. 

There is an improvement which might be Sugges- 
tions for 
made in the constitution of the Privy Council ; its im- 

prove- 

and that is, that men of tried capacity among ment - 
the permanent officers of government should 
more frequently be made Privy Councillors. 
And, moreover, I venture to think that emi- 
nent men from our Colonies, and those who 
have distinguished themselves in colonial ad- 
ministration as civil servants of the Crown, 
should occasionally be added to the Privy 
Council. 

It is a curious thing to note, to how many 
of our Sub-departments the Privy Council 
has been the nursing mother. As civilization 
has advanced, new objects for governmental 
effort and governmental direction have arisen, 



114 THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

chap. The matters connected with these objects 
*" ' have been, in the first instance, submitted to 
the Privy Council or a Committee of the 
Council. As the objects aimed at have be- 
come more extensive, and have been found 
to be in consonance with the wishes of the 
public, the business relating to them has 
greatly increased. Ultimately it has been 
Origin of found advisable to form separate Departments 
partments. to deal with, and control the various matters 
in question. This is the origin of several 
Departments. Doubtless it has been a very 
advantageous origin, for the new Depart- 
ment has come to the management of the 
subject in question with much of the expe- 
rience that has been gained by the Privy 
Council, and yet with that freshness of thought 
and vigour of action which naturally belong 
to a new Department, chosen for a special 
purpose. 

In what I have said above respecting the 
Privy Council, I have only given an instance 
of the existence of a governing body which 
is happily to be found in our own country, 
and which I think might most profitably be 
adopted in other countries. 







in 
organiza- 
tion. 



CHAPTER XL 

ORGANIZA TION. 

AMONGST the talents imperatively re- chap. 
quired for the service of Government, v — r ~~ 
first and foremost is the talent of organization. Skill 
This talent, in its various degrees, is wanted 
for all kinds of government — from the govern- 
ment of a family to that of an empire. In its 
highest degree it is exceedingly rare. There 
is a delusion, as I think, prevailing amongst Supposed 
mankind, that this talent belongs, in an es- to certain 

races. 

pecial degree, to certain races. Each nation, 
perceiving and feeling the want of organiza- 
tion in its own affairs, is apt, with becoming 
modesty, to suppose, that the talent in ques- 
tion exists, in a high degree, amongst its 
neighbours, and is exemplified in the conduct 
of their affairs. We were wont to imagine, 
and boldly to state, that the French were 
especially skilled in organization. ' They 



1 1 6 ORGANIZA TION. 



chap, manage these things much better in France,' 

■ was a common phrase with us. But when the 

day of trial came, this phrase did not appear 
to be founded on fact. We are now, perhaps, 
inclined to believe, that the Germans are the 
great masters of this art. I maintain, how- 
Suppo- ever, that skill in organization does not belong 

sition erro- 
neous, especially to any race ; and that, when any 

nation, at a crisis of its fortunes, manifests 

great organizing skill, it is in consequence 

of individuals, blessed with the possession of 

such skill, being brought into positions of 

great power and sway. It would probably 

be as unwise to conclude, that any race of 

men will of necessity produce great poets as 

that it will produce skilful organizers. 

Qualities For, consider what a rare combination of 

of a great . . 

organizer, qualities must exist in any person who is to 
show forth great skill in organization ! He 
must have the imaginative faculty developed 
in equal proportion with the practical faculty. 
He has, at the same time, to be apprehensive 
and courageous ; fond of details and keen in 
discerning principles ; a subtle observer of 
his fellow-men, who withal does not permit 



ORGAN IZ A TION. 1 1 7 



his subtlety of observation to lead him away chap. 
from the sure conclusion, that men chiefly act ' ' 
upon the most common-place and ordinary 
motives. He must look far forward, and 
must be 'thoroughly aware, that men are very 
trying and provoking beings ; and that, in 
any long course of action which he may 
design for them, they will be sure to do 
something which it was intended they should 
not do, or to omit doing something which it 
was intended they should do. Again, and 
this is perhaps the rarest combination of all, 
he who has to become a skilful organizer, 
must be familiar with the state of facts he 
has to work upon, and yet keep himself free 
from that dangerous inadvertence, and that 
easy contentment with the customary mode 
of doing things, both of which evils naturally 
belong to this familiarity. 

This combination of qualities will not be Their 

combina- 

found common in any race of mankind, and tion most 

rare. 

can only be looked for, in any high degree, 
in certain gifted individuals. 

How rare these individuals are, may be 
inferred from the fact that defects in orga- 



T 1 8 ORGAN IZ A TION. 



nization are equally to be discerned in the 
management of men's pleasures, as in the 
conduct of their business. This is a most 
important fact to notice. If, on the contrary, 
it were to be seen that men were clever in 
making arrangements for their pleasures — 
in organizing these well — and yet, at the 
same time, their national affairs were ob- 
served to be ill-organized, we might then 
conclude, that organizing skill was plentiful, 
but that, somehow or other, the government 
failed to attract that skill to itself. 

But this is not the case, I believe, in any 

country, and certainly not in our own country. 

its want Take, for instance, a very familiar example ; 

seen in 

places of and such a statement as I have made above 

entertain- 
ment, may most convincingly be illustrated by some 

familiar example : observe what utter want 
of organization is shown in the dispersion of 
any large number of persons, after an enter- 
tainment of any kind. And yet I presume 
to think that to a person of organizing skill 
many modes occur at once by which this 
dispersion might be rendered most facile. 
If I am right in this assertion, it shows how 



ORGAN IZ A TION. I ] 9 



rare are those persons who can claim to chap. 

possess organizing skill — or how rarely they ■ — 

come to the front. 

A similar remark may be made, as regards And in 

railway 

the conduct of railway business. I imagine it traffic. 
would astonish the world, if it could see how 
a master of organization would deal with the 
conduct of railway business, at some compli- 
cated railway station, where now all is hurry, 
doubt, confusion, and bewilderment. 

Now, the people who direct railway busi- 
ness, are mostly very clever men ; far above 
the average of mankind in cleverness, and 
probably in organizing skill ; but they have 
not had the apprehensive foresight which dis- 
cerns future difficulties and provides against 
them, or they have become too familiar with 
the present state of things to appreciate what 
there is in it that requires alteration. 

My object, as far as I have hitherto gone 
in this chapter, has been to indicate how few 
and far between are the men who are skilled 
in organization. In a former work, 1 treating 
of this subject solely, I maintained that skill 

1 Essay on Organization. 



120 



ORGANIZATION. 



CHAP. 
XL 



Organ- 
izing skill, 
not teach- 
able. 



Tts great 
import- 
ance. 



in organization is a thing which might be 
taught. Further consideration has led me to 
believe, that this assertion was not well 
founded ; and at any rate, if accepted at all, 
it must be accepted with considerable limits, 
and modifications. For how are you to teach 
a man to be apprehensive and bold ? This 
happy combination of opposing qualities is, I 
conceive, hereditary; and the boy who does 
not manifest it in the playground will seldom, 
I conjecture, be found to have it, as a man, in 
his converse with the world. 

I now proceed to the main drift of this 
chapter on organization. I would not have it 
thought that my previous remarks are solely of 
a discouraging nature. Hitherto I have chiefly 
had in my mind that high degree of organiz- 
ing power which is required for the conduct 
of the greatest affairs. A similar power, in 
a lower degree, is shown to some extent in 
every well- managed household ; and in every 
branch of public and private business which is 
tolerably well managed. In fact, without this 
power being exercised extensively in its lower 
degrees, the world could not get on at all, and 



ORGANIZATION. 121 



we should relapse into barbarism. Women chap. 

... xi. 

often possess the talent of organization in a *- — « — 

considerable degree, and, whenever they do 
possess it, their households, their entertain- 
ments, and their control of expenditure, show 
at once in the most marked manner that they 
do possess this talent. 

If the foregoing views respecting organiza- 
tion are just, and if they can be applied at all, 
it is to the conduct of government that they 
are most applicable. For if organizing skill is organ- 

... i «1 izing skill 

needed anywhere, it is in those great national most 

. , _ wanted 

affairs in which, if errors are made, the mere in govern- 
ment. 
money loss may amount to millions, and the 

ruin, or at least the degradation, of a nation 
may ensue. In the conduct of a nation's affairs, 
men of organizing power should be sought 
for with the keenest avidity, and be retained 
at almost any price. They are not to be dis- 
covered by any mode of previous examina- 
tion. Indeed that very docility, and that 
readiness to accept whatever is taught them 
for a purpose — the purpose, namely, of success 
in competition — are qualities which tend to 
smother and deface, rather than to develop, 



1 2 2 ORGANIZA TION. 



chap, organizing power. Strange to say, it is often 



' ■ ' a somewhat indolent and thoughtful man who 
has much of this power, but who remains very 
deficient in the mere acquisition of knowledge 
of any kind. 

Another point, to be carefully considered 
with reference to this matter, is, that there are 
no two things more entirely dissociated than 
the power of argumentation and the power of 

Powers of arranging with forethought, and manifesting 

argumen- 
tation and s kiH i n organization. The man, who can see 

organi- ° 

zation. what ought to be done, and lay down a plan 
for doing it, is often totally unable to argue 
about that which he can design most skil- 
fully. In these days, our principal rewards are 
given to the men of arguing powers, who may 
be absolutely inept in administrative power. 

Lastly, if by any means a man of organ- 
izing power is attached to any branch of the 
Executive, care should be taken, by his 
superiors, not to allow him to be ground down 
Routine in the mill of routine ; lest even he, too, 
Morgan- should be subdued by over-much familiarity 

izing it»*ii i 

powers. with the subjects he has to manipulate, and 
should thereby lose the power of discerning 



ORGANIZA TION. I 2 3 



in what way the current treatment of matters, chap. 

. XL 
in his Department, requires to be entirely ■ — 

altered or amended. 

I must add, that I cannot lay down any 
rule, nor do I believe anybody else can, for 
the discovery of men possessed with a singu- 
lar aptitude for organization. All I can say 
is, that those who are placed in the highest 
positions, and who, therefore, have large op- statesmen 

should 

portunity for observing the work of other look out 

for men of 

men, should be always on the alert to dis- organizing 

J skill. 

cover, and to attach to themselves and to their 
government, those men whom they have 
reason to believe possess this aptitude for 
organization. Statesmen must not be de- 
ceived by the manifestation of large powers of 
criticism, in those whom they are inclined to 
consider as men of organizing talent. Criti- 
cism, as well as argumentation, has but little, 
if anything, to do with this organizing talent. 
The man, who possesses it, is nearly sure to 
manifest it in some practical way ; and if that 
way is observed by some person in power, 
that person may fairly infer, that if he can 
attach this worker and thinker (not criticiser, 



I 24 ORGANIZA TION. 



chap, not talker) to the public service, he has so 
' ' far fulfilled one of the chief functions of a 
statesman. 

In great crises you constantly hear such 
words as these : ' Oh, that there were a man ! 
What a difference one great man would 
make ! ' But it is forgotten that there must 
be the wise men to choose the man ; for the 
greatest man finds a difficulty in choosing 
himself and putting himself forward 




CHAPTER XII. 



ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 



w 



OULD that there were more of this 
valuable quality shown in every go- 



CHAP. 
XII. 



vernment that governs, or pretends to govern, Foresight 

much 

throughout the world. Never was this quality needed 

in govern- 
more needed than in an age justly called an men- 
age of transition — when there is immense 
diversity of opinion ; when the world of 
thought is more than ever divided into sects ; 
and when that most dangerous form of 
thought, which is best described by the French 
word doctrinaire, is remarkably prevalent. 

As it is, even the bystander most favour- Yet very 

rare. 

able to the governments which exist, must 
admit, however reluctantly, that the action of 
government chiefly consists in a series of 
surprises. 

All observant people must agree in recog- 
nising this evil, which it will be desirable to 



126 



ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 



CHAP. 
XII. 



A cause 
for this in 
England. 



Ministers 
absorbed 
by daily 
work. 



Their 
critics 
often un- 
practical. 



examine minutely, in order to discover the 
causes, and, if possible, suggest some remedy. 

One of the main causes why government, 
even in this country, which justly claims to 
be the best governed country in the world, 
is still a government that acts in a faltering, 
hap-hazard, and uncertain manner, is the fol- 
lowing : — 

The persons, who are chiefly entrusted with 
carrying on the government, are so much 
immersed in the difficulties of the present 
hour — their work from day to day so fully 
occupies them (especially in this age of un- 
limited correspondence) — that they have 
neither the leisure, nor the heart, nor the 
spare intellectual energy, to devote to a large 
consideration for the future. This work, 
therefore, is done mainly by writers, uncon- 
nected with government. Now, with all 
their merits, we cannot expect these writers 
to be eminently practical. The views and 
wishes, which they put forward, often lack 
that consideration of the circumstances sur- 
rounding them, that knowledge of practical 
difficulties, and that experience of men, which 



ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 1 27 



are only gained by converse with active chap. 
life. -^~ 



What is wanted, in every State, is a body 
of philosophic — no, I am afraid of that word Need for 

ministers 

— of thoughtful statesmen ; who, though par- less over- 

worked. 

taking of some of the active duties of states- 
men, should not be overweighted by their 
having too much of the conduct of ordinary 
business imposed upon them. 

I know that this proposal is a very difficult 
one to realise in action. But, then, the whole 
matter we are discussing — namely, the provid- 
ing foresight for government — is confessedly 
a very difficult one, and we cannot expect the 
remedy to be facile. Moreover, such a 
remedy as is proposed, is rather contrary to 
what is called the spirit of the age. A single 

illustration will show what I mean. There Some sine- 
cure offices 

are certain offices, in the Cabinet of Great us efui. 
Britain, to which no onerous duties are 
attached, and indeed, to speak frankly, 
scarcely any duties at all. The present out- 
cry is, ' Let those offices be abolished, or let 
onerous duties be attached to them.' In a 
word, let every man engaged in the highest 



128 



ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 



CHAP. 
XII. 



Their abo- 
lition un- 
wise. 



Foresight 
not to be 
confined 
to states- 
men and 
philoso- 
pher?. 



branches of statesmanship, be oppressed by 
the severe and urgent routine of office, which 
already prevents so many of the greatest 
men from being able to give due foresight to 
the affairs of the future. Well, be it so ; only 
remember, that if the miller and his men are 
always employed in grinding for the necessi- 
ties of the day, and there is no one left, a little 
outside, to watch the course of the stream, it 
may fail some day when it is most wanted ; 
or it may come down in one tumultuous over- 
flow, sweeping away the mill, the miller and 
his men, broadening, as it goes, into one vast 
torrent of destruction. 

Not, however, that I would confine the 
acquisition of this foresight merely to states- 
men and philosophers. It is comparatively 
but little service to the world, that a Chester- 
field, or a Burke, should foresee the political 
evils coming upon a generation of unobserv- 
ant men. We must, in order to insure wise 
government for the future, contrive that con- 
siderable numbers of persons should try to 
gain some foresight in political affairs. 

It may seem a pedantic thing to say, but I 



ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 129 

am persuaded, that to effect this great good, chap. 
much reference must be made to history. — -- — 
There are certain principles, as to the pro- The high 
bable conduct of men, and as to the results tory. 
of measures, which can only be evolved from 
some study of those historical events, which 
have an application to our own times. If I were 
asked, what would be the most fruitful subject 
for study that could be devised for giving 
foresight in political action, it is the history of 
the Girondins. There never, perhaps, was an The Gi- 
instance in the world, in which so many good 
men, having really great designs for the welfare 
of mankind, were so utterly deluded and de- 
ceived. The same error, which misled these 
good men, stands eternally in the way of im- 
provement, and has to be most carefully 
guarded against. That error was the sup- 
position that they (the Girondins) could 
place the limits of movement, at that precise 
line of demarcation which seemed to them to 
be the wisest and the best. The man who par- 
takes this fatal error of the Girondins forgets, 
as they did, that there is a fierce crowd be- 
hind him, who do not limit themselves to his 

K 



130 ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 

chap, views and are not contented with his objects, 
xii. m J ' 

' — ' but are rushing down the hill to achieve 

their own — whom he can never hope to stay 
till they get to -the bottom of that perilous 
descent. 

Not the less danger is there, from want of 
foresight, in a totally different direction. The 
history of the Girondins is certainly a most 
fruitful subject for the contemplation of poli- 
ticians. A kindred subject, namely, the 

Louis xv. conduct of Louis XV. and his Ministers, is 
equally fruitful. 

I fear that the contemplative bystander 
would find much to blame, on account of 
want of foresight, even in our own time. It 

Benefits must, however, be acknowledged, that much 

resulting 

to Great f the security and good order that we pos- 

Britain J & _ . r 

from fore- se ss, is the result of a foresight which gene- 
rally com'es rather late in Great Britain, but 
which frequently does come at last, and is 
the salvation of us politically, as a State. 
That our people have, at this moment, so few 
purely political grievances, is an inestimable 
blessing. What we have to consider as the 
main objects for foresight in government, are 



ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. I3 T 



the questions of social difficulty which at chap. 



present threaten us, and which are looming v "~~~ 1 
large in the distance. 

There is also another class of subjects 
which especially call for the exercise of fore- 
sight on the part of government. It relates 
to panics of all kinds, sudden and ill-considered Foresight 

in regard 

resolves of all kinds, which most nations are to panics. 
seldom free from, for any length of time. For 
example, a nation has a sudden fit of severe 
economy, or, on the other hand, of recklessness 
in matters of expense. Or it has a wild panic 
as regards invasion ; or, on the other hand, it 
indulges in a fit of sublime, but most unwar- 
rantable confidence, as regards the mainten- 
ance of peace, and the needlessness of warlike 
preparation. All these fits and humours of 
a nation require great foresight on the part of 
statesmen, to know how to bear with them ; 
to prevent their doing mischief; and to make 
use of them for some good purpose, which, 
at other times and seasons, might not be so 
easily effected. 

I cannot better conclude this chapter, than 
by giving a very remarkable quotation from 

K 2 



132 ON FORESIGHT IN GOVERNMENT. 

chap. Montesquieu, or rather from Gravina, whom 
* — ■ — Montesquieu quotes, whereby it may be seen 
what is the true definition of a State, as a 
being which combines in itself the forces of 
all the individuals who compose it. That 
those forces should be well directed for the 
True defi- benefit of the individuals, and should be well 

nition of 

a State. combined for the common welfare of the 
State, is the principal subject-matter for fore- 
sight in this Country, especially considering 
that the social questions before alluded to 
are those which now concern us most : — 

' Outre le droit des gens, qui regarde toutes 
les societes, il y a un droit politique pour 
chacune. Une societe ne sauroit subsister 
sans un gouvernement. " La reunion de toutes 
les forces particulieres," dit tres-bien Gravina, 
s < forme ce qu'on appelle l'Etat politique.' " l 

1 L Esprit des Lois, par Montesquieu, liv. i. chap. iii. 

rift 




CHAPTER XIII. 

THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 



w 



E have now to concern ourselves chap. 
with the education of the governors, — r— '— 
not of the governed, which education ought special 

... . - . . . n education 

obviously to be ot a somewhat special of a states- 

man. 

character. 

An admirable work, before referred to, has 
been written on the training and conduct of 
statesmen by Sir Henry Taylor. It is called 
* The Statesman.' This work of mine will 
not allow of my dealing elaborately with 
the subject, as Sir Henry Taylor has done. 
I shall attempt only to set down those points 
which have particularly engaged my thoughts 
with regard to the education of statesmen. 

In all times, but especially in these times, 
it is needful for a statesman to have a great Mastery 
mastery of details. To use an expression I needful. 
have used elsewhere, he should have 'an 



134 THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 

C J^_ R almost ignominious love of details.' The 
""" ' ' questions that come before him partake of 
Love of the complication which must exist in highly- 
civilized communities. These questions will 
be cumbered with details ; and a statesman, 
at any rate if he is acting under a constitu- 
tional government, will not carry to a pros- 
perous irsue any large measure by the aid of 
a few great principles, unless he have the 
knowledge, and the skill, which will enable 
him to put the details into their right places, 
and to adapt them to these principles. If we 
consider the eminent statesmen of recent 
times we shall find that, with very few excep- 
tions, they have been men who, to use a 
Eminent phrase of Talleyrand's, are ' avid of facts.' 

statesmen 

;avid of They would have been good men of business 
in any department of life. 

Now, how are this avidity for facts, and 
this skill in selecting and arranging them, to 
be acquired ? I would not be so presump- 
tuous as to attempt to lay down, authorita- 
tively, any special rules for acquiring these 
necessary aids to statesmanship. This is a 
matter which must mainly be left to the dis- 



facts.' 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 135 

cretion of those persons who are training chap. 

youths likely to be concerned in statesman- ■ — »-^— 

ship. One youth will, by the peculiar bent Rules to 

of his mind, indicate to his instructor one thein ' 

structor. 

way of attaining this desirable object ; another 
youth will indicate another. All that can be 
said to an instructor is, ' Whenever you see 
an opportunity of making a youth follow any 
particular study, which involves dealing with 
large masses of facts, encourage him in it, 
and keep him to it.' 

One thing I must remark, and herein my How 

statesmen 

opinion entirely coincides with that of Sir should 

study his- 

Henry Taylor, that the way to make a stu- tory. 
dent, who is to become a statesman, read 
history, is, to confine his attention to a par- 
ticular period, and make him know that in 
its minutest detail, demanding from him, not 
essays, but elaborate statements of facts. It 
is astonishing what strength and minuteness 
of observation, and what power of comparing 
and marshalling significant facts, may be 
given to an intelligent youth, by severely ex- 
ercising his mind in this peculiar way. 

The next branch of education to be culti- Power of 

expression. 



136 THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 

chap, vated is expression. This is one of the prin- 
""" ' ' cipal arts of life, and is most needful for any 
An art man who would influence his fellow-men. It is 

to be cul- 
tivated, essentially the art of artists whose excellence 

is mainly to be seen in their powers of expres- 
sion, which include that of representation. 
It is an art which, if not to be acquired 
by one who has no natural gifts in that direc- 
tion, may, at any rate, be greatly enlarged 
and furthered in anyone who has the 
smallest natural faculty for it. As a nation 
we do not excel in the power of expression, 
and therefore it is peculiarly valuable amongst 
us. Of necessity, skill in expression includes 
includes logic and method. It may be well taught at 

logic and 

method. home in our earliest years ; and it is an art, in 
which an observant man may go on improv- 
ing to the end of his life. 
Especially For a statesman, nothing is more requisite 
for a than that he should be able to narrate accu- 

rately, to explain succinctly, to answer clearly 
and logically, and, in short, to deliver all that 
he knows, or has to say, with the greatest 
force, the least apparent effort, and the least 
irrelevancy. This appears to be a large de- 



statesman. 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 137 



mand to make upon any man ; but it is not chap. 
r J t XIII. 

beyond the scope of teaching. *- — - — 

It is surprising what keenness of observa- its want 

obvious 

tion even an unlearned bystander has of de- to all. 
fects in expression. He perceives where 
the tale is ill told, or the statement insuffi- 
ciently made ; he detects redundancies of 
phrase, needless parentheses, want of method 
in the narrative, and all that movement back- 
wards and forwards — telling too much too 
soon, and too little too late ; which result in 
making a story, or a statement, inconsequent, 
confused, and deficient in force and interest. 
He may be a good general critic, although, 
from want of practice, he would himself com- 
mit the faults which he detects and condemns. 
He may, therefore, instruct the young in 
amending these faults, if only he comments 
upon them. And anyone who is concerned 
in bringing up a statesman, can hardly do 
more service to his charge than by endeavour- 
ing to make him attend carefully to the just 
expression of whatever he has to express. 
This may at first sight appear likely to pro- 
duce pedantry, and to make a young person 



138 THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 



chap, think less of what he has to say, than of how 
xiii. 



% ' ' he should say it. But if any such pedantry 
is acquired, it soon wears off in the urgency 
of the real business of life ; and the youth, 
well taught in this respect, becomes a man 
who, unconsciously, has the power of express- 
ing what he thinks and feels, without having 
to think of the mode and manner of this ex- 
pression. 

Everyone Of course a statesman, and indeed most 

should be 

taught to other persons, should be taught how to speak. 
Respecting this accomplishment there are 
certain rules that have been ascertained to be 
imperative, if a man would command the at- 
tention of his audience. There is also some- 
thing that practice alone can give. It is that 
a man should be able to think while he is in 
the act of speaking — while he is on his legs, 
and has a number of eager eyes looking up at 

Art ?? him. He should be able to change the order 

speaking. ° 

of his speech ; to dwell much upon that part 
of the subject as regards which he discovers 
that his audience requires enlightenment, or 
is ready with sympathy ; and to withhold, or 
shorten that part of his prearranged discourse 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 139 



which he finds it is needless, or, perhaps, offen- chap. 

r r >, XIII 



sive, to dilate upon. In short, he should be ! ' ' 
able to use his mind in a dual capacity, speak- 
ing what he is determined to say, and at the 
same time determining what he will say next. 

This accomplishment cannot be perfected Debating 
without practice ; and though debating socie- 
ties at schools and universities may appear 
to be mere play, they are not without great 
use in the training of statesmen. 

I have not spoken of the higher matters Love of 

justice and 

which belong to the education of statesmen ; truth. 
of the love of justice and of truth ; of the care 
for the well-being of their fellow-men ; of the 
sense of the responsibility for power, which 
should be inculcated during youth. The chief 
part of this great work must be done by their 
mothers, or, at any rate, by those who are 
nearest to them in relationship, or who come 
into the closest contact with them. It is Great 
seldom that a character is developed into fosters 

greatness. 

greatness, unless a great example has been 
furnished to it by those who have had the 
care of its early training. 

I have said how needful it is to give the 



140 THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 



chap, nascent statesman a habit of dealing with 

XIII. & 



' ' ' details, and of expressing well whatever he 
has to express. But there is a branch of his 
education which must never be neglected ; it is 
to insert into his mind some interest in all that 
is going on around him. Other men may not 

Extended be injured by narrowness of mind — or I 

sympathies 

needed should rather say by narrowness of purpose 
— for narrowness of mind must be a great 
detriment to any man who is bounded by it. 
But, in so far as it may produce a certain 
fixedness of purpose, and concentration of 
effort in one direction, it may have some 
value in rendering its possessor successful in 
his particular calling, if that be one of a 
limited nature. Such, however, is not the 
And calling of a statesman, which requires ex- 

cultivated, tended sympathies, varied knowledge, and a 
certain catholicity of thought. To the man 
whose business it is to rule, no knowledge- 
no information — can come amiss any more 
than to the poet or the man of letters. He 
has hereafter to be a keen observer of all 
that he may see, especially of all that has a 
human interest. This will hardly be the case 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 141 

unless, in youth, he is induced to take a keen chap. 

. . xiii. 

interest in all the occupations and proceedings ' — r -r-' 

of those that surround him. Now this general 

interest in human affairs is a feeling which interest 

iii human 

can be educed and enlarged by early training ; affairs ma y 
and a skilful instructor, having to educate <i uired - 
those who are likely to become statesmen, 
can insinuate, as it were, into the minds of 
his pupils somewhat of that large-minded and 
sympathetic interest in all that is going on 
around them, which will be so valuable to 
them in after life. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



CHAP. 
XIV. 



T 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN 

continued. 

HE education of a statesman should 
never end. This indeed may be said 
Education of any other man ; but the maxim peculiarly 

should 

never end. applies to statesmen, who have continually to 
cultivate a very difficult branch of self-educa- 
tion, namely, that of educating themselves in 
the knowledge of what those whom they guide 
and govern are thinking, hoping, expecting, 
and wishing for. It is a strange thing to say, 
but statesmen are, for the most part, peculi- 
arly unfortunate as regards the company they 
keep — unfortunate, I mean — with a view to 
gain this requisite knowledge respecting their 

statesmen own people. In reality their lives are much 

too much 

isolated, more isolated than would at first sight appear. 
They see a great deal of their colleagues, 
their private secretaries, and their official 
subordinates ; and they occasionally have to 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 143 

meet large numbers of their fellow-citizens at chap. 
s ^ XIV. 

public meetings. But all the knowledge they ~ ^~" 
thus gain is stamped with an official charac- Their 

knowledge 

ter. There is a vast amount of other know- mostly 

official. 

ledge, respecting the thoughts and wishes of 
their fellow-countrymen, which these states- 
men are peculiarly ill-placed for obtaining. 
It is true that they read the newspapers. 
There is, however, a large field of thought 
which is not to be found even in the news- 
papers. It is a common belief, often ex- 
pressed very cynically, that the people of this 
and other countries are entirely guided by 
the public press, and that each man does but 
talk his favourite newspaper. This is a total People not 

entirely 

delusion, as anybody may verify for himself, guided by 

press. 

who will take the trouble to watch the con- 
versation which takes place in public convey- 
ances. There is hardly any man of ordinary 
intelligence, who will be bound down by what 
his newspaper says ; and you may frequently 
observe, that a newspaper article is discussed 
in one of these public conveyances, and is As proved 

l)v co river— 

subjected to very searching criticism, and sationin 

. . t . public con- 
very direct oppugnancy. In fact, as civiliza- veyances. 



144 THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 

chap, tion has advanced, the great mass of the 
xiv. & 

' ' ' world has become much more critical ; and, 

at any rate, in what is called the Anglo-Saxon 

Anglo- race, there is an immense amount of indivi- 

Saxon 

race very duality of opinion. At the moment at which 

critical, 

I am writing, the subject of army reform is 
prominently in the minds of my fellow-country- 
men. I have listened to discussions on this 
subject in railway carriages, which it would 
have been very desirable for any statesman 
to hear. 
And much It is moreover to be recollected, that we 

given to 

tra-ei. and our American relations, are the people 
who indulge most in travelling ; and we are 
too intelligent a people not to have made 
many shrewd observations upon the conduct 
of other nations, whom we have visited. 
Again, as regards ourselves, we have vast 
colonial possessions ; and so extensive has been 
our employment in those colonies, and perhaps 
I should say, in those empires which are sub- 
Advan- ject to us, that you will hardly find yourself 
tiff habit, in a company of eight or ten people, brought 
by chance together, in which there will not 
be one or more persons who can give you, 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 145 

from his own personal experience, interesting chap. 

facts relating to India, or to Australia, or to *- — *~* 
the West India islands. 

Facts, such as these, statesmen ought to be More than 

./. rr%i ordinary 

able to get at and to verify. They want to informa- 
tion re- 
know, or at least they ought to want to know, quired. 

much more than the ordinary class of political 

facts. 

This knowledge is not to be acquired at 

public meetings. It is astonishing what men 

will assent to, in large assemblages of their Public 

meetings. 

fellow-men, when carried away by the excite- 
ment of the moment ; and how erroneously 
their opinions may be represented, if deduced 
only from what takes place at public meetings. 
A statesman wants to know what are the real 
feelings of the people he guides and governs. 
This knowledge can only be obtained by 
much and intimate converse with the people : intimate 

converse 

and if a statesman cannot obtain this for with the 

people 

himself, (and indeed it is a very difficult matter needed. 
for him, with his pressing occupations,) he 
should aim at doing so through other trust- 
worthy persons. 

I doubt much whether the condition of 

L 



146 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 



chap, lame numbers of the lower classes of this 
xiv. & 

v ■ ' country is intimately known to many states- 
men. Yet this, as all will admit, is a kind of 
Condition knowledge that demands to be known by 

of lower & J 

classes statesmen. There was a tax proposed, some 
known. ti me ago, which, however much it was ridiculed, 
had a great deal to recommend it. It was 
condemned mainly by the appearance, in the 
streets, of those persons who were likely to 
be injured by the imposition of this tax. 
Now when people blame and ridicule the 
proposer of this tax, may I ask them, and 
especially the statesmen among them, whether 
they had any adequate idea of the condition 
of those miserable persons who were to be 
the first to bear the injury to employment 
that would, or might be, created by the im- 
position of that tax ? 

I would carefully guard myself from being 



be earn 
out. 



ed 



Popular 
ideas not 

iiways to supposed to maintain, that a statesman should 
look upon himself as bound to carry out the 
wishes of the people, when he has ascertained 
them. In general it will be found, that with 
the utmost research he will only be able to 
ascertain the views and wishes of certain 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 147 

sections of the people. He has also to con- C S£?' 
sider imperial interests ; and it may be his ' ' 
duty, as possessing a wider survey, to oppose imperial 

interests 

the wishes not only of large classes of his being pa- 
ramount. 

fellow-countrymen, but even of the whole 
Country at large. 

Still, it is of the utmost advantage for a 
statesman to make himself thoroughly master 
of the views and wishes of any one class. Know- 
As I have been desirous, throughout this class 

views. 

work, of giving individual examples, with 
regard to the general propositions which I 
may lay down, I will give an instance in 
point. 

Many years ago, it was determined, by the 
government of the day, to bring in a measure 
to amend and consolidate all the Acts relating 
to an important branch of taxation. The a case in 

point. 

Minister, who was to have charge of the 
measure, was well aware that he had very 
little personal experience of the troubles, 
vexations, and inequalities caused by the 
incidence of this branch of taxation. He 
took occasion to declare, in the most public 
manner, that he wished for information on 



148 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 



CHAP. 
XIV. 



Result. 



the subject ; and, on the part of the Govern- 
ment, he invited communications by letter, 
from all persons in the kingdom, who had 
peculiar knowledge or experience of this 
much-entangled matter. He was one of 
those men who have the good sense to know 
that, in such a position as his, he could not 
do everything for himself, but .must make 
great use of his subordinates. He appointed 
one person, a secretary in his Department, to 
deal with the whole of this correspondence, 
desiring the secretary to furnish him with a 
complete report of the whole matter. 

The letters poured in by hundreds. At 
first the mass was bewildering ; but gradually, 
after abstracting and studying a great number 
of these communications, (which sometimes, 
by the way, required further correspondence 
and interviews,) the secretary was enabled to 
lay before his chief such a digest, as showed 
where needless pressure and inconvenience 
were occasioned by that branch of taxation, 
as it was then imposed or collected ; also to 
show where it could be made most fruitful, 
with the least inconvenience and irritation to 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 149 

the public ; and, in short, to get at the ruling chap. 

principles of the whole matter. ' ' ' 

A Bill was framed accordingly, which was Working 

most successful, and which endured in full 

force for many years without any complaints 

against its manifold prohibitions. By this 

instance I very much desire to show, by 

reference to a transaction of which I had 

personal knowledge, how much advantage is Public ad- 
vantage. 
to be gained by large communication with 

the public in the preparation of any measure 

which greatly affects their interests. 

It is also an instance of how a statesman Mode of 

dealing 

with 

things 



dealing 

should execute certain kinds of work. There with 



is no point in which the continuous education 
of a grown-up statesman — an education he 
must provide for himself — is more surely 
manifested, than in the way in which, as he 
grows older and wiser, he superintends rather a s a states- 
than works out matters in detail; judges and Spe- gr ° 
controls, rather than elaborates ; and, in short, 
learns to make the amplest use of his subor- 
dinates. 

A statesman, who is admitted by all parties 
to have been one of the best administrators 



ISO 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 



CHAP. 
XIV. 



A minis- 
ter's ex- 
perience. 



Work 
should be 
thorough, 



and ju- 
diciously- 
limited. 



of a great Department whom this country 
has ever possessed, told me, that days, and 
even weeks, sometimes passed without his 
ever writing a line himself. He was, never- 
theless, one of the most industrious of men ; 
and he added : ' I am all day long engaged 
in seeing what other people are doing and can 
do.' Now that man had gone far to attain, in 
this respect, the self-education, which I would 
insist upon as pre-eminently requisite for a 
statesman. One of the great arts of all per- 
sons placed in authority is, to multiply them- 
selves, as it were, by a judicious and trustful 
employment of other men's intelligence and 
abilities. 

Lastly, in reference to the subject of this 
chapter, it may not be amiss to suggest to 
statesmen, that, of all people in the world, they 
are those who will find their greatest reward 
in doing their work thoroughly. To do that 
work thoroughly, it is especially requisite 
that they should not undertake too much. 
It may be a commonplace remark to make ; 
but observe wherein lies the success of the 
most successful men in every condition of 



THE EDUCATION OF A STATESMAN. 151 

life. It results more from the limitation of chap. 

xiv. 
their efforts, than from almost anything ' ■ ' 

else. The truth of this maxim is to be 

observed in the Arts, in Commerce, in Lite- The max- 
im general. 
rature, in Science ; and it is not less true in 

statesmanship. To follow up this maxim 
requires great courage ; but it is a courage 
that meets with almost instantaneous reward. 
Let a statesman only have the courage to 
say, * I will not deal with this proposed mea- 
sure nOW. The WOrld is full of grievances. Grievances 

. to be dealt 

They must, however, be dealt with one by with 

singly. 

one ; and no semblance of pretentious states- 
manship shall make me depart from my resolve 
to deal with these grievances individually, but 
forcibly, rather than to give an ineffective 
acknowledgment, by some imperfect measures, 
of all the grievances which may be brought 
before me.' 

The multiplicity of the measures which, in 
weak moments, a statesman has consented to 
introduce, has often been the cause which has 
ruined his reputation as a statesman. 



CHAPTER XV. 



CHAP. 

XV. 



ON IMPROVEMENT, IN CONTRASI WITH 
REFORM. 

IT is a sad thing to say, but no less true 
than sad, that one can seldom succeed, as 
an author, in putting forward in the strongest 
and best manner that which one cares for 
most. When the great actor produces the 
most impression upon his audience, it is not 
because, at the moment, he has the most 
sympathy with his part. The intensity of 
feeling has, perhaps, long gone by ; and what 
moves them most is the result of high art, 
that has, to some extent, dissociated itself 
from the original feeling which was not ade- 
quately expressed at the time when it was 
first and most deeply felt. An author has no 
such chance of improving, by repetition, his 
expression of what he feels; and often that 
which he is most deeply anxious to impress 



IMPRO VEMENTIN CONTRAST WITH REFORM. 153 



upon his readers, he fails in expressing, from chap. 

xv. 



his profound care for the subject. 

I feel this in entering upon the considera- 
tion of the subject of the present chapter ; for 
I greatly fear that I may not be able to convey 
adequately to the reader my sense of its high 
importance. 

One of the great evils attendant upon poli- Political 

ambition 

tical life is, that it is connected so closely with an evil, 
ambition, and with the love of fame. And 
yet in politics some of the most useful, if not 
the greatest achievements which remain to be 
accomplished, will not gratify ambition, nor 
ensure fame. These achievements lie in the 
way of improvement. How rarely men are 
contented with mere improvement in political 
affairs may be inferred from the names which 
political parties have received, or have as- 
sumed. We hear of Whigs, Tories, Conser- 
vatives, Reformers, and Destructives. In Party 
America, too, the names for political parties, 
however strange and varied, are never such as 
show that the partisans condescend to limit 
themselves to anything so humble as mere im- 
provement. The word Reformer approaches 



names. 



154 0N IMPROVEMENT, 



chap, most nearly to that of Improver, but yet is 
' ■ ' essentially different, as it implies reconstruc- 
tion. Whereas, to carry out the greatest 
improvement, there is frequently not the 
slightest necessity to change the form of things. 
It would, perhaps, surprise the world to 
Lar s e r find how much could be done, and done with 

scope for 

improvers, comparative ease, in the way of improvement, 
which is now left to be done in the way 
of reform. There are, for instance, scores of 
Acts, of Parliament now inoperative, or only 
partially operative, that might be rendered 
largely effectual by slight alterations and ex- 
tensions. For example, an Act has been 
passed providing some remedy for some evil 
in a town, probably of a sanitary kind. As 
population has become more dense in the 
suburbs of that town, the evil in question 
has extended to them, and the remedy ought 
also to be extended. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, no one thinks it worth his while to 
attack, by means of legislation, this new evil. 
There is neither name nor fame to be gained 
by such a humble, though most useful, under- 
taking. It is merely making the most, and 



/ 



IN CONTRAST WITH REFORM. 1 55 

the best, of another man's previous work ; chap . 

xv. 
and each man proposes to himself to do some- ' ^— •*' 

thing larger and better than that, if he have 

the capability of doing anything. 

The principal cause of this misplaced Cause of 

misplaced 

ambition is, that in all our schemes of action, ambition. 
we take such delight in beginning anew — in 
imagining for ourselves a tabula rasa in any 
branch of human affairs that we wish to 
meddle with ; and we think, that it will be 
so pleasant to inscribe, as it were, upon blank 
leaves whatever we desire to indite. The 
misfortune, however, is, that there remains 
hardly anything in human life which can be 
begun again, in this trenchant manner. As 
an example, it may be noticed that several 
socialistic schemes, for equalising conditions, 
would require a total demolition of most of 
the buildings which are at present on the 
earth. Now these buildings represent the 
work of ages ; and the humble improver 
does not by any means desire to demolish 
them. 

To convince a statesman of what good 
might be done by the improvement of that 



156 ON IMPRO YEMEN T, 



chap, which already exists, I have sometimes thought 



that if one could persuade him to take a 

walk with one in London, and its suburbs, or 

in any other thickly populated town, what 

Need of opportunities one might show him for im- 

improve- 

ment in provement of the kind that I mean, both in 

London. 

legislation and in administrative action. 

There are huge factories rising up on the 
banks of rivers, the refuse of which will, for 
certain, whether openly or furtively, be shot 
down into the stream, and will thereby in- 
evitably cause great mischief to all those who 
dwell on its banks and have to drink of its 
waters. This statesman would see portions 
of land about to be occupied by mean and 
unhealthy dwellings, which land ought to be 
under the control of the government for the 
public good. He would see volumes of 
smoke issuing from factories, and begriming 
great public buildings for which he has con- 
sented that the nation should pay large sums 
of money ; and it might be suggested to him, 
that this smoke, though one of the greatest 
evils of modern civilization, is at the same 
time one of the most easily preventible. One 



IN CONTRAST WITH REFORM. I 57 

might then take him into the most densely chaf. 
populated parts of the town ; and show him - — ■ — ' 
how absolutely abominable are all the primary 
arrangements for habitation, which have to be 
endured by thousands, and tens of thousands, 
of his poorer fellow-countrymen. The re- Remedies 

within 

medies for these evils need not be sought for reach of 

all. 

in forms of legislation, which will encounter 

much opposition by evoking political passions 

or prejudices. They lie within the placid realm 

of the improver. 

I do not undervalue the great political 

measures which remove political disabilities, 

and are framed with a view to making large improve- 
ment very 
masses of our fellow-countrymen more con- desirable. 

tented with imperial rule. But it is improve- 
ment in those minor matters before enu- 
merated, which will make life more comely, 
and which will create good citizens as well as 
good men. 

There are, at this moment, vast schemes for Schemes 

brought 

change and reform, brought forward by men forward. 
who have, as yet, but little political standing 
or political weight in the State. Without 
undervaluing the labours of these men, or 



158 ON IMPRO VEMENT, 



chap, depreciating the objects they have in view, 
' ' ' one can hardly doubt, that practised states- 
men look upon these outsiders somewhat 
as quacks, while they consider themselves 
to be the regular practitioners. But let 
statesmen take this fact to heart ; that it 
is only from their failures, that these men, 
whom perhaps they affect to despise, derive 
their chief influence ; and I contend that these 
failures are mainly to be attributed to the 
negligence of statesmen, in improving the 
condition of the poorer classes by measures, 
not of great political, but of immense social 
urgency. 
wherein The statesmen of almost every Country 

lies the 

strength of might afford to despise the efforts of the most 

democratic 

agitation, democratic agitators, if the welfare of the 
common people, in what are regarded as com- 
paratively minor matters, had been sufficiently 
attended to. That man is seldom inclined 
to be clamorously destructive, who has a 
comfortable home, and who finds that the 
legislation of his country is directed, not 
merely to the redress of political grievances, 



IN CONTRAST WITH REFORM. 159 

but concerns itself with all that can free his chap. 

XV. 

condition from whatever is ignoble, unhealthy, ' ■ — ' 

and unbecoming. 

If these minor improvements, when tried, 

had been found to fail — if experience had 

proved that men whose homes had been made 

more comfortable, and whose well-being had 

been looked after in every way by their 

superiors, had still continued to be agitators, 

or the prey of agitators — we might conclude 

that that was not the way to satisfy mankind. 

But the experiment has been tried and proved 

to be successful. Wherever, and whenever a wise be- 
nevolence 
great manufacturer, or other large employer of some 

employers. 

of labour, has had somewhat of the spirit of 
the true statesman in him, and has striven to 
create a happy and contented population in 
the neighbourhood of his works, he has 
uniformly, as far as my knowledge goes, 
succeeded in doing so. Now, if statesmen 
would place a similar object in view, for the 
whole of the labouring population, they also 
might meet with similar success. And the 
means by which they might attain that 



i6o 



IMPROVEMENT IN CONTRAST WITH REFORM. 



CHAP. 
XV. 



Immense 
field for 
the im- 
prover. 



success lie rather in the way of improving 
the legislation that has already been begun 
with that view, than in bringing forward great 
measures of political or social change. 

I am by no means anxious to contend that 
there are not many subjects for political 
action, which need the reformer in preference 
to the improver. But I maintain, that an 
enormous field of mere improvement lies be- 
fore those who would have the modesty to 
limit their political action to improvement. 
That ' last infirmity of noble minds,' the desire 
for fame, which, however, I would character- 
ise as the first infirmity of minds ignoble as 
well as noble, has, in no branch of human life, 
effected more mischief than in politics. I 
have scarcely a hope of increasing the num- 
ber of improvers ; but I think that they might 
be consoled for the want of fame attendant 
upon their labours, by their fully appreciating 
what an extensive sphere of usefulness lies 
before them. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE WANT OF TIME FOR STATESMANSHIP. 

f I iHIS want of time is one of the most chap. 

-*- serious evils affecting the government •— ' 

of this country; an evil which is steadily in- 
creasing. No sooner does a man attain to any Time of 

. it • ministers 

eminence, in whatever calling it may be, than needlessly 

pncroo.cn - 

he is forthwith molested by constant demands ed upon ; 
upon the time, which should be reserved to 
maintain that eminence, and to make it useful, 
to the world. It must be noted too, that these 
demands are made mostly in matters which 
are extraneous to the calling, in which the 
unfortunate man has arrived at distinction. 

It would be well, if it were only his time 
which is thus unreasonably encroached upon, and their 
But we are often deluded by vague ideas weakened, 
about that word time. It is energy which is 
thus lowered and absorbed. People forget, 
that the energy of their fellow-men is a 

M 



1 62 THE WANT OF TIME 



chap, limited quantity, and that a certain amount of 
^— - — energy is exhausted, even by that which may 
appear to be but a small demand upon time. 

Moreover, and this is a most important 
consideration, when frequent demands are 

by small made upon the time of any great man, in re- 
matters 
intruded gard to small matters, which ought never to 

upon & & 

them. have been brought before him at all, he is apt 
to be satisfied with the exertions which he 
has made in reference to these small matters, 
and to put aside those things, which require 
severe and continuous thought. 

instance I shall here refer to a fact which, I believe, 

in point. 

I have mentioned elsewhere ; but which may 
serve to convey, to any reader who has not 
much experience of official life, what pressure 
is put, in this respect, upon the foremost 
statesmen of the day. Going into the office 
of one of these statesmen, early one morning, 
I found his private secretary packing up the 
letters, that had arrived for the Minister by 
that morning's post. This Minister, whose 
enforced absence from official life we have 
now to deplore, was then failing in health, 
and had gone, for a day or two, into the 



FOR STATESMANSHIP. 163 



country, to obtain some rest. I remarked to chap. 

. XVI. 

the secretary, that it was a large batch of * — r— 
letters. ' Yes/ he replied, ' I had the curiosity 
to count them ; there are a hundred and private 
eight These are only the private letters one day. 
that have arrived this morning. The official 
letters are first opened, and seen by us in the 
office. Then there will be another batch of 
private, as well as of public letters, to be for- 
warded in the afternoon.' 

Now, it is very well to say that a large 
proportion of these letters were, doubtless, of 
a comparatively insignificant character ; and 
that they might have been disposed of in a 
few words of direction, and without much 
expenditure of thought. But the number Their 

ti 11 -i ill-effect. 

tells. JNo man deals, even in the most per- 
functory manner, with a hundred and eight 
letters, without undergoing considerable exer- 
tion of mind. There are sure to be, amongst 
them, letters from colleagues, from subor 
dinates, from political or personal friends, 
which will require careful answering. 

I have illustrated above only one branch 
of the subject. If the Minister had been in 

M 2 



1 64 



THE WANT OF TIME 



chap, town, there would have been a constant suc- 

' ■ — -* cession of visitors, perhaps of deputations 

requiring interviews ; and, considering the 
responsible position of a Minister, each of 
these interviews would oblige him to be upon 
his guard, and would require a certain tension 
statesmen of the mind. Statesmen are, for the most 

hardened 

to labour, part, hardened to labour, before they rise to 
any eminence, otherwise their health would 
almost certainly break down at an early 
period after their taking high office. 

It is not, however, their health that I am 
now considering, but their time and their 
energy. I have forborne dwelling upon the 
large amount of time, and, occasionally, of 
energy which is consumed, often very fruit- 
lessly, in the attendance of Ministers in Par- 
liament. 

After this partial insight into a Minister's 
daily life, is it to be wondered at, if, except 
in rare instances, he does not give that 
minute, continuous and patient consideration 
to the preparation of great measures, which 
they imperatively require ? 

But this is not the whole of the evil. There 



Ministers 
in Parlia- 
ment. 



FOR STATESMANSHIP. 165 



is great danger, that a man so occupied, will chap. 

not be able to give the requisite attention to ■ — 

the current work of his Office. And, after Adminis- 
tration as 
all, careful administration is a duty incum- important 

as legisla- 

bent on a Minister, of quite as important a tion - 

nature as judicious legislation. 

It is very desirable, that men, holding the 

highest offices in the State, should, whatever 

other labours they may undertake, reserve 

sufficient time for the duties of administration. 

The Office should not be sacrificed, as it were, Depart- 
ments not 
to Parliament : still less to any other claims to be 

sacrificed 

which may be made upon the Minister's time to Pariia- 

\ x ment. 

and attention. 

I believe, that if the chief permanent 
officers of the British Government were 
called together, and were asked, what it is 
they most desire, they would say, even in 
preference to their official salaries being 
raised, that what they most wish is, that more More time 

needed for 

time should be given to them by their Par- office 

work. 

liamentary chiefs. No amount of ability, not 
even of that special ability which consists in 
rapid seizing of the points of a case, makes 
up for this deficiency of time. For my own 



1 66 THE WANT OF TIME 



chap, part, I have often said that, in submitting a 
- — '■> — ' difficult matter for decision, I would rather 
have twenty minutes with a man, not, per- 
haps, of the highest ability, than ten minutes 
only with a man of supreme ability. 
Time This view may be illustrated by what hap- 

needed to 

master pens when any suit is brought into Court. 
We are often told, and justly, that we, who 
have not been present in Court, cannot 
thoroughly judge of the case. There is some- 
thing of the same kind in all cases, whether 
legal or official. It will not always do to present 
an abstract of a document. Often it should 
be read through, by the man who has to give 
a final decision upon the case to which it 
refers. Few people, especially in an age in 
which there is a great aversion to respon- 
sibility, convey directly their full thought upon 
any great matter they write about ; but 
something, if not much, is left to be inferred. 
And the right inference can only be drawn, 
by very careful attention to the wording of the 
document itself. 

Before concluding this part of the subject, 
I must observe, as I believe I have previously 



FOR STATESMANSHIP. 167 



observed, that in the best permanent officials, chap. 

. . XVL 

there is always a great desire to be in perfect ^ — ■ — ' 

accord with their chiefs. These permanent and to 

• instruct 

officers are well aware that their duty is subordi- 
nates tho- 
merely to carry out exactly the views and roughly. 

wishes of those chiefs ; and, when they fail to 

do so, it is, in nine instances out of ten, from 

having imperfectly gathered, (by reason of the 

shortness of the interview,) the. views of their 

superiors, and not from indulging in any 

crotchets of their own. 

We have seen something of the nature of A 

. , 11* i o • 1 master's 

a Ministers work during the Session, and holidays 
while he is administering his Department; 
but his holidays are often very joyless, cer- often very 
tainly very peaceless, when compared with 
those of other men. The British people keep 
their chief statesmen well in public view, at 
all times. And, unless a Minister quits the 
country, which he is seldom able to do, his 
vacation is frequently as full of work, as other 
men's busiest time. 



It is always an ungrateful task to comment Remedies 

proposed. 

upon an evil, without suggesting any reme- 



1 68 THE WANT OF TIME 



chap, dies for it. In this matter I have three reme- 

XVI. 

' ■ — ' dies to propose. 

The first, and greatest, is one which can 
only succeed if it meet with a just appreci- 
ation on the part of the public, to whose 
considerateness I would appeal. 

It is, that people in general should exercise 
great forbearance, as regards taking up the 
time of Ministers, by communications which 
need not be addressed to them. I am sure, 
if it were only from pity, the public would be 
more careful than they are in this matter, 

Unneces- could they but know how constant and severe 

sary com- m 

munka- is the necessary pressure upon the time and 

tions. 

attention of those men who have to conduct 
the affairs of this great and growing Empire. 
The second remedy which I propose, can 
only be made effectual, if it is fully appre- 
ciated, and generously acted up to, by Mem- 
bers of Parliament. 
Number It is, that, as regards Parliamentary work, 

5q2s Seed there should be more consideration for Minis- 
ment" ia ters, than there is at present. The number 
of questions asked in Parliament, in the 
present day, is most unreasonable. A man 



FOR STATESMANSHIP. 169 



whose experience of Parliamentary proceed- chap. 
ings is of very long standing, was asked, in v — ^ — ' 
my presence, whether Pitt was careful and 
elaborate in answering questions in the House 
of Commons. ' Yes,' was the reply, ' he was ; 
but then, you know, questions in Parliament 
were rare things ; never more than three or 
four at a sitting.' 

There are other matters, also, in which 
a Minister's time and attention might be 
spared. In the conduct of a Bill of many Conduct 

of a Bill in 

clauses through Committee, there is often Parlia- 
ment, 
great waste of a Minister's time, by the at- 
tempt, on the part of persons who have not 
really studied the Bill, to introduce amend- 
ments and interpolations, which go far to 
destroy the Bill as a whole. This practice 
calls upon the Minister to exercise the utmost 
dexterity, to prevent his Bill from becoming 
an inconsistent mass of crude legislation. 

My third remedy is purely of an official 
character, and can be applied by Ministers 
themselves, if they should coincide with me 
in thinking, that it is worth while to take 
some pains in doing so. 



[JO WANT OF TIME FOR STATESMANSHIP. 

chap. it is to provide, in every Department, some 
1 ' ' person, or persons, who shall not be absorbed 
by the current business of the Department — 
who should not be concerned so much with 
what is being done, as with what should be 
done, and with what should be provided for 
in the future. This is the person with whom 
the, Minister should have much converse 
during that period of time which is facetiously 
called his holidays. This third remedy is, 
to a certain extent, a new proposal. But it 
must be remembered, that as the nation 
rapidly increases in numbers, and as civili- 
zation advances, more and more subjects of 
interest, requiring either government inter- 
ference or government abstinence, have to 
be considered ; and that our chief public 
servants have need of every aid that can 
be given them, to meet the ever-increasing 
demand upon their time and upon their 
energies. 




-#f®K^ 



CHAPTER XVII. 



GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. 

JT would be ridiculous to suppose, that a 
'free press will not have great power in 
whatever country it may exist, or under 
whatever government. This power will be 
due, not only to the skill which the press 
may show in advocacy, but also to the fact, 
that it has, in general, the opportunity of 
commencing the discussion of great political 
affairs, thereby anticipating the views and 
intentions of the Government and the Op- 
position, and, in short, of gaining the public 
ear in the first instance. If any part of the 
press enters into close alliance with any great 
political party, that part of the press loses 
much of its influence ; for the public desires 
the press to represent its views and wishes, 
and does not delight in manifest advocacy 
on behalf of political parties. 



CHAP. 
XVII. 



Power 
of the 
Press. 



Alliance 
with 
political 
parties. 



172 GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. 



chap. Such a power, as that of the press, can- 



*~ — ' ' not be ignored ; at least it would be senseless 

on the part of any government to ignore it. 
Relations Then comes the question, as to what 
press and should be the relations between the press and 

govern- 
ment, government. Before all things, these rela- 
tions should not be slavish on either side. 
They should, if possible, be friendly ; and, at 
any rate, should be just. By 'just,' I mean, 
that communications from government, upon 
matters respecting which the public may fairly 
claim early information, should be imparted 
simultaneously to all the principal organs of 
the press. 
Motives It would, also, be very desirable, I think, 

sometimes 1 • r • 1 1 

to be com- that not merely information, but the mo- 

municated . 

to the tives for action on the part of government^ 
should, on some occasions, be communicated 
to the leading newspapers. This may, at 
first sight, appear to be an undignified mode 
of proceeding, but it would often prevent 
error, and obviate misunderstanding. The 
press, not knowing what are the motives 
which influence government in regard to 
any course which government proposes to 



press. 



GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. 173 

take, begfins to write upon the subject with chap. 
& r J XVII. 

very imperfect knowledge ; and then, having ~ — ■ — ' 
once taken up a line of argument, continues 
to support that line for the sake of consist- 
ency, and somewhat in the spirit of partizan- 
ship. 

The advantage of making such communi- Such in- 

formation 

cations as are here proposed to be made, will, s r h ° uld be 

full. 

doubtless, be greatest in those affairs (and they 
are many) which are not, or, at least ought 
not to be, connected with party feeling. When 
government is resolved to take, or is in- 
clined to take action in respect to some 
matter of a complicated nature, not involving 
great political questions, nor perhaps indeed 
any political questions at all, there would, in 
my judgment, be a great advantage in allow- 
ing the press to be very fully informed by 
Ministers as to the motives for that action. 

There is one point, relating to this subject, intellec- 
tual power 

which requires to be fully considered, and of a De- 
partment. 

which is very rarely considered at all. It 

has regard to the relative intellectual power, 
at the command of any particular Department 
of government, and at the command of the 



174 GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. 

chap, press. Most people never know, or if they 
' ' ' do know are apt to forget, what is the intel- 
lectual power at the service of any Department 
of the State. A Department consists, for the 
most part, of a high political officer, in one or 
the other of the Houses of Parliament. To 
aid him there is a political Under-Secretary, 
a permanent Under-Secretary, a chief clerk, 
and, perhaps, four or five senior clerks. As 
a general rule, all of these men are men of 
ability, at least of an ability above the ave- 
rage. Moreover, they have the advantage 
of a large command of information ; but they 
are very busy men, and they have very little 
time to spare for defending what they do. 
Literary On the other hand, the press has the means 

power of ••11 

the press, of engaging in its service the cleverest writers 
of the day ; and it can change them from time 
to time. The power, therefore, that it has 
of bringing into the field good argument, 
expressed in good language, in hostility to 
any Department, is very great ; and is some- 
times absolutely oppressive. 

It is also to be borne in mind, that men in 
office are under great restraint. It is not 



GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. 175 

allowed to them to give explanations, except chap. 
at the time, and in the place, when and * — ■ — ' 
where, as it is supposed, it is fitting to give 
such explanations. 

I do not think I have exaggerated these 
relative conditions of power, which at times 
are very adverse to government Depart- 
ments ; they seem to me to point to three 
conclusions. 

First : That the public, keeping in mind Public 

should 

that the government Office, which is subject reserve 

opinion. 

to hostile criticism, may have a great deal to 
say for itself, but which it cannot say — or 
cannot say it then and there — should en- 
deavour to reserve its final opinion on the 
matter in question, whatever that may be. 

Secondly : That the press, keeping in mind Advan- 
tages of 
the advantage which it has over the govern-' the press 

ment Office, in regard to the conditions before be used 

ungene- 

mentioned, should endeavour not to employ rousiy. 

that advantage ungenerously. 

Thirdly : That the government Office, informa- 
tion to be 
when it can with propriety do so, should dis- given 

close, at an early date, those facts, motives, 

and objects, respecting which it feels, that if 



176 GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS. 

chap, the public knew all, the public would probably 

' ' ' be on its side. 

Of course this could not be done in any 
government where the proceedings are of a 
sinister kind; but the Government of this 
country is so honestly administered, and with 
so much care for the public welfare, that it 
could often afford to act in this, open and 
candid manner. 

Public It has been said, and said truly, that the 

working . ... 

of the working of government in this country is 
govern- like that of bees in a glass hive. There are 
certain disadvantages in this mode of work- 
ing ; but in a free country, with a free press, 
I do not see how they are to be obviated. 
All I would desire is, that the glass should 
not be coloured or stained, or, in less meta- 
phorical language, that from the first there 
should be the least opportunity given for mis- 
understanding, and misrepresenting the wishes 
and intentions of any government Depart- 
ment. 



ment. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 



I 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 

T is a favourite maxim with many of the chap. 

xviii. 
governing persons of the day, and notably ' « — 

with economical reformers, that ' you must not 

be generous with other people's money.' 

That I deny. When you are in an office Gene- 
rosity. 
of great trust, and have to deal with other 

people's money, it is your business to try to 

deal with it as though it were your own ; and 

the highest functions of your trust may, in 

the interest of those for whom you have to 

act, compel you to be generous. In fact, if 

you are not generous with their money, you 

are often doing them a great injustice and 

a manifest dis-service. 

An error of the kind alluded to has crept Lawyers' 

into men's minds, and may be well exempli-' 

fied by the advice lawyers sometimes give to 

their clients. How many lasting family feuds 

N 



178 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 

chap, have arisen, because a client has listened to 
' his lawyer, ignoring his own feelings ; and 
all the while the lawyer has given advice qua 
lawyer, and if he had not been advising a 
client, if it had been purely his own affair, he 
would have acted with a spirit of generosity, 
which he now contends is not, for a moment, 
to be listened to. 
False I am in general much disinclined to indulge 

economy . . 

may in prophecy ; but, for once, I will break 

cause a 

great through the rule, and will venture to say that, 

disaster, 

I shall not be surprised if some small economy 
should, on some great emergency, prove to 
be a pregnant cause of disaster to the nation 
in which that small economy has been prac- 
tised, causing fatal detriment to some im- 
portant national force. 
yet often It is to be remembered, that all economy, 

plausible judicious or injudicious, is a wonderfully 

thing- . . 1 . 

plausible thing ; and, moreover, it has this 
specious advantage, that it can be stated so 
undeniably— in black and white, as we say. 
For example, the holder of an office dies. 
The rigid economist, who has power in the 
matter, sees that here is an opportunity for 
effecting a saving to the public, as he calls 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. I 79 

it. We will say, that the late holder of the chap. 

J < XVIII. 

office received 800/. a-year, and did good ser- *" — - — 
vice for it. The economist abolishes the office a case 

of false 

altogether, throwing the duties of it upon some economy. 
other holder of office, with a slight increase of 
his salary. The public is saved, perhaps, 
700/. a-year, according to the figures. But 
(and I am not drawing upon my fancy for the 
facts) the new duties are imposed upon a man 
who, though intelligent and clever enough in 
other respects, is wofully unfit to perform 
these new functions. He is, for instance, well 
versed in calculation, and has gained much 
credit by the advice which he has given to 
government upon matters of finance. He 
is now to have by this addition to his duties, a 
function to perform which requires, perhaps, 
much knowledge of men, and much skill 
in managing them. It is to be expected, 
that he will fail in the performance of the 
new duties, and thereby a pecuniary loss to 
the public may be occasioned, in comparison 
with which the saving that has been effected 
by the abolition of the office is wholly incom- 
mensurable. 

N2 



l8o ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 

chap. There is not anything- which rewards the 

XVIII. > J & 

' ~^ ' individual employer of labour better than 
Trust in supreme trust in his agents. For once that 

agents. 

this trust is abused, it is used, nay it is made 
remunerative, in a hundred instances. If you 
do not trust your agents thoroughly, even in 
matters of expense, you must organize a sys- 
tem of checking, which is of itself expensive ; 
and, what is much worse, is a hindrance that 
tends to efface responsibility, and to prevent 
rapidity of action. 
Distrust As I am, however, dealing with the ques- 

false 

economy, tion of economy, pure and simple, it is, as 
regards that question alone, that I maintain 
that the economy, which is sought to be 
obtained by a system of distrust, is likely to 
result in increased expense. For example, 
take any one of the great Offices of State. 
If every item of their expenditure is to be 
supervised by other Departments, there is 
great expense in this supervision ; and there 
is no impulse given to the heads of the office 
to regard economy in their expenditure, as a 
thing for which they are responsible, and for 
effecting which they are to have the entire 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. l8l 

credit. If, on the other hand, they are in- chap. 

J XVIII. 

trusted, to a certain extent, with the control ' ■ ' 
of their own expenses, they are more likely to 
have a pride in keeping those expenses within 
due bounds, and at the same time they will 
always have a great care not to impair the 
efficiency of their respective offices, which is, 
naturally, the first thing that a Department 
looks to, and ought to look to. 

No person, who has not had any expe- Ridiculous 

super- 

rience of the effect of ridiculous supervision vision. 
as regards small matters of expense in public 
Offices, can imagine how much loss of valu- 
able time, and increase of worry are occasioned 
by this interference — as for instance, when it 
descends into such particulars (not imaginary) 
as this — Whether, in the opinion of one 
office, a broom is sufficiently worn out by use 
in another office to make it necessary that a 
new broom should be provided. Moreover, 
and this is no small point, men's dignity is 
hurt by being obliged to deal with these 
absurdly trivial questions ; and a man, per- 
haps one in high authority, curses in his heart 
the having taken service with an employer 



182 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 



CHAP. 
XVIII. 



True 
economy, 



a result 
of trust. 



who thinks fit to vex him, and take up his 
time with questions of this nature. 

Hitherto we have been considering the 
errors of a false and spurious economy. But 
there is a real and true economy, which the 
public servants of our own, or any other 
country, may be educated to regard as one of 
their highest and best functions. 

In private life, in works executed by the 
agents of any large and wise employer of 
labour, you will mostly find a devotion to 
their master in matters of expense, which 
makes them more careful and saving of his 
money than he is himself. That man has 
seen but little of the world, or has been very 
unobservant, who has not noticed many in- 
stances of this, the highest, the best, and the 
most continuous economy ; and it is one which 
can be elicited by judicious trust, and by im- 
posing upon agents that responsibility which 
is a source of enlightenment, as well as of 
the most unselfish and dutiful action. 

Before dismissing this subject, I must re- 
turn to that branch of public economy, which 
consists in the abolition of offices. In what 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 183 



I have before said, this question was treated chap. 

^ XVIII. 



in reference only to the duties of the office, ■ — 

which has been abolished, being committed to Abolition 

of offices. 

persons who are unfitted to perform them. 
But there is a question of a very different 
nature which requires like consideration. If 
you wish government to be conducted in 
such a manner, that there is much hopefulness 
left for the persons who are employed under 
it, you must have offices which should be the Reward 

for ser- 

reward of long, or of special service, but vices, 
which should not in themselves be offices of 
excessive work, though not mere sinecures. 

For example : there shall be some Board 
or Commission consisting of five members. 
The work, Ave will suppose, could really be 
done by four, if each one of those four worked 
at the full stretch of his pdwer. With a large- 
sighted view of the public service, it may be 
most desirable to retain that fifth place, con- 
sidering it only as a reward for public service. 
There are many persons employed in the 
civil service of this country, who cannot 
otherwise be fitly rewarded. 

There is scarcely a more important office, 



184 ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 



chap, under government, than that of private secre- 
xviii. & m r 

> ■ ' tary to a Cabinet Minister. The Minister, for 
Private his own sake, generally takes care to make a 

secretaries, 

very good choice in this matter. The choice, 
in the first instance, mostly, falls upon a very 
young man. The relation of parties in this 
country, unlike that of other countries, has 
in it, on the whole, so little of hostile bit- 
terness, that this private secretary is very 
frequently recommended by the out-going 
to the in-coming Minister ; and the recom- 
mendation is accepted. Thus it happens, 
that a man is often employed for many years 
as a private secretary to successive Ministers. 
How is this man to be rewarded ? The 
reward has generally been found for him by 
appointing him, after many years of hard 
and anxious service, as a member of some 
government Board. 

What I have said, with regard to private 
secretaries, applies to other official persons. 
how to be Now, there is an answer, at first sight 

rewarded. . . 

plausible, which may be given to this line 
of argument. It might be said, always pay 
a man at once exactly for the service he does, 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 1 85 

and leave hope out of the question. My chap. 
1 ^ J XVIII. 

answer is, that you would not get such good ■ — ' 

work, and that you would put a young man 
quite out of his place in the Civil Service, and 
probably do him a great deal of harm, if you 
were to reduce his expectancy to an imme- 
diate money payment. 

To put the matter in a more general form, Proposal 

for 

you must have some offices in the public rewarding 

service. 

service corresponding to the Deaneries and 
Canonries in the Church, to which you may 
appoint men whom you have tried in subor- 
dinate employments ; and to reward whom 
you will find no better way than by conferring 
upon them appointments of more dignity and 
more pay, though perhaps involving less ex- 
acting work. No service of the State will Hope of 

reward 

be conducted well, in which you cut off the should 

always 

sources of hope. And, with regard to the exist. 
severest economy, it will be found that the 
abolition of an office, such as I have de- 
scribed, is ultimately a very bad bargain for 
the public. 

It was a very bold saying, in which I ven- 
tured to declare, at the beginning of this 



i86 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 



CHAP. 
XVIII. 



Best 
service, 
how 
obtained. 



Essay, that it was necessary sometimes to be 
generous with the public money. This say- 
ing may, however, be thoroughly justified, if 
we acknowledge the fact that the first thing 
to be aimed at by the government, or by any 
employer, is to get the best service. Good 
service, good paid service (I am one of those 
who do not believe in unpaid service), must 
be handsomely remunerated, whether the em- 
ployer of labour is a private individual or 
the State. I would have the State to be 
considered as the most generous employer of 
labour, so that it should ever have the best 
name for liberality in the labour market, and 
be able to attract to itself whatever form of 
talent it may wish to command. 

It may be a somewhat subtle and Machia- 
vellian way of looking at the matter ; but I 
have ever observed, that occasional acts of 
extreme generosity on the part of an em- 
ployer have an almost disproportionate effect 
in inducing men to seek for work under that 
man ; and that, to express the matter vulgarly, 
nothing pays better than these occasional 
acts of generosity. 



ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. 1 87 

In fine, while pursuing a system of just chap. 
economy, a government should always avoid "~ ' ' 
such a lowering of salaries and rewards of all 
kinds as would render its service less than it 
ought to be to men of talent and education, 
of whom, happily, there is no lack in this 
country. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

DIPLOMACY. 

chap. We hardly ever give credit enough to in- 
xix. J & s 

' r ~~' ventors. Custom has rendered dull our per- 
ception of the audacity of their enterprizes, 
and of the difficulty they must have had in 
persuading other people to adopt their inven- 
tions. The wheel seems a simple thing ; but, 
doubtless, ages passed away before a man 
was found skilful enough to invent a wheel, 
and persevering enough to induce his fellow- 
men to make use of this new and strange 
invention. The fork is an implement of 
comparatively recent invention ; and it gives 
almost a new view of the great men of the 
world to think that, except in China, up to the 
sixteenth century, they chiefly employed their 

Diplomacy fingers in eating. 

invention. Now, though we hardly ever consider diplo- 



DIPLOMACY. 189 



macy as a new invention, it certainly is so. chap. 

xix. 

If we turn to the history of savage nations, "~ ■ ~" 
or of nations in a partial state of civilization, 
we do not find that any such thing as di- 
plomacy existed amongst them. Ambassa- Ambas- 

r J & sadors 

dors were frequently sent from one people to originally 

x x * special 

another (the word ambassador originally envoys. 
meant only messenger), and it was a very 
great invention, in the progress of national 
life, when ambassadors became resident 
diplomatists, and permanent representatives 
of Sovereigns, or of sovereign States. It 
may be wondered how any nation was 
induced to allow certain men from another 
nation, to come and reside amongst them, 
and to enjoy privileges of immunity, when 
their functions were somewhat of the nature 
of espial ; and when they were expected to 
give information to their own government 
of much that might be prejudicial to the 
people amongst whom they were to reside. 
I seem to hear all the remarks, that the 
extreme conservatives in any nation must 
have made, when it was first proposed that 
ambassadors should not merely come with 



190 DIPLOMACY. 



chap. a message and return with an answer, but 
xix. & m ' 

' ""' that they should take up their abode at 
some central place in a foreign dominion. 
Ultimately, however, the uses of diplomacy 
have been discerned by almost all nations ; 
and these uses are very great. 
Misunder- I suppose it would be generally admitted, 

standing 

the main that one of the main causes of quarrels, 

cause of 

quarrels, whether domestic or national, is misunder- 
standing. Now, resident diplomatists cer- 
tainly have great opportunities of removing 
misunderstandings between nations. Some 
persons have accused diplomatists of having 
furthered rather than prevented wars. This, 
however, is a most unjust accusation ; and I 
think it can hardly be doubted that if the 
negotiations of nations in regard to the 
great matters of peace and war, were car- 
ried on by ambassadors (using the word in 
its strict sense), who went and returned 
with messages, there would be far more mis- 
understanding than there is at present. 

Moreover, it is a great advantage to know 
what is going on in a foreign State with 
respect to all the arts of peace, including 



DIPLOMACY. 191 



legislation and administration. How desir- chap. 
... . XIX - 
able it is, for instance, for one nation to ' ■ — 

be speedily and accurately informed of the 
special laws and facts relating to commerce, 
in another nation — also as to its management 
of infectious and contagious diseases affecting 
men or cattle. 

If nations are kept in harmonious inter- 
course by means of diplomacy, they are per- 
petually borrowing from each other's wisdom 
and experience. An interchange of thought 
between nations on many of the great sub- 
jects of human life and endeavour is most 
valuable ; and this interchange is best ac- 
complished through diplomatic agents. The Vague 

views of 

traveller's view of any country is apt to travellers. 
be very vague and incomplete, especially in 
regard to those subjects concerning which 
it is most desirable that people at home 
should be informed. The merchant, even 
if resident in a foreign country, naturally 
takes but a very limited view of the gene- 
ral affairs of that country, his observations 
being, for the most part, restricted to those 
matters which chiefly affect his own business. 



192 DIPLOMACY. 



chap. Even the consular agent has a much nar- 



' ' ' rower sphere than the diplomatic agent, who 
may be expected not only to inform his own 
government of facts, but of the view of the 
foreign government to which he is accre- 
dited, and of the general disposition of the 
people, in reference to those facts. 

You do not want to know merely the laws 
that have been passed in any other country 
to avert, or control, any evil which exists in 
your own country, or threatens it. You want 
to know how those laws have been received, 

utility of and whether they are acted up to. If you 

representa- 
tion in obtained information of this kind only from 

foreign 

countries, the foreign government itself, the informa- 
tion would justly be very suspect ; for no 
government is fond of speaking frankly about 
its failures. From your resident diplomatist, 
however, you may learn not only what has 
been sought to be done by legislation or 
otherwise ; but what is really effected ; and if 
there is any failure in this respect there will be 
no scruple on his part in giving you due in- 
formation of its nature and extent, and of the 
reasons, in his opinion, which have caused it. 



DIPLOMACY. 



193 



The British are the greatest travellers in chap 



xix. 



the world ; they have the largest commercial 
marine ; and they are by far the most vigor- British 

, . . r , rj^-i the most 

ous and enterpnzing 01 colonists. 1 hey are, enter- 
therefore, more interested than the men of colonists. 
any other nation in learning all that is going 
on in foreign countries. 

Some may say, that the foregoing are the 
lesser uses of diplomacy. It may be doubted 
whether they are the lesser ; but, supposing 
them to be so, I think it may be shown that 
what are called the great objects of diplomacy, 
those which chiefly relate to peace or war, 
are also much facilitated by diplomacy, and 
especially by maintaining the highest class of 
diplomatic agents abroad. 

It must be admitted, that on any occasion war, the 
when war takes place, it is the failure, though diplomacy. 
it may not be the fault, of diplomacy. Diplo- 
matists must therefore be even more anxious 
than other men to avert war. It is certainly 
an advantage for the rest of the world, that 
there should be a body of men, for the most 
part highly cultivated, and having the ear of 

o 



194 DIPLOMACY. 



chap. Courts and Cabinets, whose main interests 
■ compel them to desire peace. 

Now, take the most recent case in which 

diplomacy has failed, and the peace of the 

a failure world has been largely disturbed. This may 

of diplo- 
macy, be owing to one or other of two causes — or, 

as is more probable, to the two causes being 
combined. Either diplomacy failed to give 
one of the principal combatants a just repre- 
sentation of the power that was about to be 
arrayed against him ; or he and his Ministers 
failed to give due heed to the representations 
of their diplomatic agents. 
Probable If I might hazard a conjecture, which 

neither I, nor anyone else, have the means at 
present of verifying, partial information was 
given to that Government. But the informa- 
tion in question did not, perhaps, fully convey 
all that was to be learnt about the disposition 
of the minor Powers, and especially of the 
common people. 

On the other hand, it may be conjectured 
that sufficient attention was not given to that 
information which was received. If, how- 
ever, in any particular case, diplomatists have 



cause. 



DIPLOMACY. 195 



ica- 
tion of 
omatic 
orre- 

ence 



failed to ^ive all the information which they chap. 
ought to have given ; or if the suggestions of *- — - — 
diplomatists have not been sufficiently at- 
tended to, it is by no means proved that 
diplomacy is useless, because it has not been 
made due use of. 

There is a very difficult and delicate matter 
connected with diplomacy, and that is, the p u bii 
publication of diplomatic correspondence, dipi 
There is always some danger, in a free spond 
country, of this publication being made so 
frequently, and so unreservedly, as to destroy 
much of the benefit that might be derived 
from diplomacy. I will give an instance of 
what I mean, which, though not exactly a 
publication of diplomatic correspondence, was 
a transaction of a similar nature. It occurred 
many years ago. 

There was a law proposed by the Home Sometimes 

, injurious. 

Government for a certain Dependency. It 
was a very good law both for the Depen- 
dency and for the Imperial Government. The 
people, however, whom it was mainly meant 
to benefit, did not receive the proposition in 
a favourable manner : indeed, were entirely 



19O DIPLOMACY. 



chap, recalcitrant The Governor wrote home a 

XIX. 

"■ ' ' confidential letter to the following effect. 
There was no hope of carrying the measure 
now, he said, but he foresaw that in time 
it might be carried. He should keep the 
matter constantly in view ; and he indicated 
various ways by which he hoped in time to 
persuade those persons who were now op- 
posed to the measure to be reconciled to it. 
Certain correspondence, connected with this 
Dependency, was called for in Parliament, 
and this letter was published. 

The Governor soon after came to England, 
and did not fail to express his vexation at 
finding that this confidential letter of his had 
been made public. The first news he had 
received of its publication was from his own 
people, who naturally taunted him by re- 
counting the means by which he intended to 
persuade them. Now, in no branch of human 
affairs is it very desirable to tell people 
beforehand all the ways by which you in- 
tend to persuade them to consent to some- 
thing, even though it may be greatly for their 
own interest that they should consent, and 



DIPLOMACY. 197 



even though your intended modes of persua- chap. 
sion may not indicate anything that is wrong " — ■ ' 
or sinister. 

I would guard myself from being held to 
maintain, that diplomacy has never done 
any mischief; but what I do maintain is 
that, upon the whole, it has been greatly 
serviceable in preventing, or at least in post- Diplomacy 

poning (and the latter is no mean advantage), tiveof 

war * 
the commencement of hostilities. Diplo- 
macy does not pretend to eradicate human 
passions and ambitions, but it tends to miti- 
gate their consequences. The main point is, 
whether a resident diplomatist is not much 
more serviceable, in this respect, than an am- 
bassador, according to the ancient acceptation 
of the term. 

There is a notion among some people that The future 

of diplo- 

the days of diplomacy have gone by ; but I macy. 
would rather contend that there is a brighter 
future opening before it, and that, as the world 
grows wiser and better, diplomacy will be 
found to be more and more effectual in pre- 
venting, or postponing, that greatest of cala- 
mities — war. 



CHAP. 
XX. 



Proverbs 
to be con- 
sidered in 
pairs. 



CHAPTER XX. 

ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 

THERE is very little to be said on this 
great subject, which is not essentially 
of a commonplace character. In fact, it might 
almost be written by stringing together a 
series of proverbs. Men have not been for 
many thousand years upon the earth, without 
finding out their own faults, or rather those 
of other people, in the common affairs of life, 
and expressing their sense of these faults in 
pregnant sentences, which have met with 
universal acceptation. The worst, however, 
of proverbs is that, when you have a proverb 
embodying one phase of thought, you gene- 
rally want an exactly opposite proverb to 
correct it. 

In considering this subject, it will be well 
to take a particular instance, and endeavour 
to work it out thoroughly. Let us suppose 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. J99 

a case of considerable magnitude ; not of a chap. 

7 xx - 

legal character, but into which law enters, as - — - 

it does into most human affairs ; which in- 
volves questions of general policy, and of Casesub- 

^ fe r J mitted to 

administration. This case is submitted to a Minister 
a Minister by his immediate subordinate. 

The first thing for the Minister to do, is to 
begin at the beginning. This of course ap- 
pears a self-evident remark, but it is an essen- 
tial one. It will not do for him to be satisfied 
in taking up any great affair at a certain stage 
of the proceedings, upon the assumption that 
he has a perfect account from his subordinate 
of all that has happened up to that time. He 
will almost always have his reward in begin- 
ning at the beginning, and keeping carefully to 
dates, which are the backbone, as it were, of 
every long series of transactions. 

The need for this somewhat laborious mode The study 

of history. 

of procedure may be aptly illustrated by 
what often happens in reading history. I 
strongly suspect, that when conclusions from 
history are falsely drawn, it generally results 
from the enquirer neglecting his dates ; and 
having present to his mind numbers of facts, 



200 ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 



chap, which were not present to the minds of those 

xx. 
' ■ — ' who were enacting considerable parts in 

history. The student, for example, is aware 
of what was the ultimate result in history, of 
some long conflict of contending principles 
brought into action ; he knows that Pro- 
testantism ultimately prevailed in this country ; 
and does not reflect, that to the promoters of 
that great work, that final result was anything 
but self-evident. In few words, he has not 
the right set of facts before him, at the right 
dates. 

Exactly a similar thing occurs in minor 
matters — in the current business of daily life ; 
and therefore it is needful, not only to begin 
at the beginning ; but at each stage of the case, 
to consider what was then the exact state of 
facts, including also the arguments that had 
then been brought forward on all sides. 
References A practice, that should be universally 

and quota- . . . - , . 

tions to be adopted in matters of business is not to ac- 

verified. ... 

cept a reference, or even quotation, without 
verification. In this heavy case, which I 
have imagined to be brought before a Minister, 
reference will perhaps be made to Acts of 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 201 

Parliament, Orders in Council, letters of a chap. 

' xx. 

former Minister, and other documents. Not - — '*—* 

only the exact words, but the context, must 
be looked to in all these references. It is not 
that men mean to deceive, but that they are 
terribly prone to inaccuracy, and that in- 
accuracy is likely to be greatly increased, 
perhaps unconsciously, by their own preju- 
dices and desires. 

There then enters the question of the aid, The aid 

that pre- 

and direction that are to be gained by pre- cedent 

fe J r affords. 

cedent. The aid that precedent affords is 
not to be despised, especially as all mankind 
are apt to have a great respect for it ; but, 
at the same time, it is a power to which no 
man, who has any faith in himself, will permit 
himself to be made a slave. 

In the conduct of this case, and in the con- Advice of 

others. 

elusions which the Minister will have to arrive 
at, from time to time (for I imagine it to be 
a case of largeness and continuity), he will 
probably not act without the advice and 
suggestions of others, especially his subordi- 
nates. It becomes, therefore, a matter of 
great importance for him to understand the 



202 ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 

chap, general bent of the characters of those per- 

XX. 

-—-—- sons, whom he must take into council Every 

man has some such bent ; and he is seldom, 

characters if ever, free from the inclinations of thought 

of advisers 

to be ai- which that bent of character determines. One 

lowed for. 

man is nearly sure to take a harsh, or at any 
rate a severe view, both of persons and of 
conduct. Being also an accurate and pains- 
taking man himself, he is apt to conclude that 
other men (the men, for instance, involved in 
this case) are as accurate and painstaking as 
he is, and will attribute to other motives, 
those statements of theirs which merely arise 
from the ordinary inaccuracy of mankind. 
There is, of course, the character of an exactly 
opposite tendency. And indeed, without 
going further into this matter, it may be laid 
down as a maxim for the Minister's consider- 
ation, that whatever he receives in the way 
of suggestion or comment, whether from a 
colleague or a subordinate, is always to be 
fined down, as it were, by keeping in mind 
the peculiar character of the man by whom it 
is made. Moreover, he can thus arrive at the 
appreciation of an average of thought, and 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 203 

feeling by balancing the views of men of chap. 

X.X. 

opposite character. With very few men is "~ — ■ — ' 
the dry light of the intellect the only light 
which they look up to. 

Doubtless, too, the Minister — or deciding Bent of his 

own mind 

person — has to beware of indulging too tobe 
much the bent of his own character ; but a s ainst - 
here a considerable subtlety of observation 
should enter. Every man should be aware, 
that he will, ultimately, act in accordance 
with the bent of his character ; and therefore 
that it is useless for him to assume, by fits 
and starts, another form of character which 
does not belong to him. He may resolve to 
act in direct oppugnancy to what he knows 
to be the natural inclination of his mind, but 
if he does so, he must do it handsomely and 
consistently, and must not play two differ- 
ent parts, in the course of the same trans- 
action. 

Then, in any important case, of the kind General 

considera- 

I am supposing, which is to involve adminis- tions. 
tration, there are certain general considera- 
tions, as regards the conduct of mankind, 
which should ever be present to the mind of 



2U4 ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 



chap, the man who has to take action in the case. 

XX 

— * — - To enumerate these considerations would be 



a lengthy and laborious task : it will suffice 
to point out two of the most serious. 
Allowance In the first place ; the administrator can 
lence. hardly ever make too much allowance for the 
indolence of mankind. Where his adminis- 
tration will fail, is in people omitting to do, 
from indolence, that which he supposes he has 
given them sufficient means and instructions 
for doing. Hence, in all matters of adminis- 
tration, continuous supervision and inspection 
are most needful, and as in also great pre- 
ciseness of instruction. 
Fordis- In the next place, he must calculate upon 

obedience. 

a large amount of disobedience, resulting, not 
from wilfulness, but from misunderstanding, 
or from the subordinate ' thinking/ as he is 
pleased to call it, for himself, when he has 
received precise directions from his superior. 
There is one memorable instance of this kind, 
The Duke which happened to the late Duke of Wel- 

of Wel- 
lington, lington. It was in the retreat from Burgos. 

* Knowing the direct road was impassable, 

he ordered the movement by another road, 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 205 

longer and apparently more difficult ; this chap. 

X.X. 

seemed so extraordinary to some general — ' 

officers, that, after consulting together, they 
deemed their commander unfit to conduct 
the army, and led their troops by what 
appeared to them the fittest line of retreat ! 
He had before daylight placed himself at an 
important point on his own road, and waited 
impatiently for the arrival of the leading di- 
vision until dawn ; then suspecting what had 
happened he galloped to the other road and 
found the would-be commanders stopped by 
water. The insubordination and the danger 
to the army were alike glaring, yet the prac- 
tical rebuke was so severe and well-timed, 
the humiliation so complete and so deeply 
telt, that with one proud sarcastic observa- 
tion, indicating contempt more than anger, 
he led back the troops, and drew off all his 
forces safely.' 1 

I now come to that which is perhaps, after 
all, the most important point in dealing with 
this considerable case, which I have imagined 

1 Napier : Peninsular War, iv. 386. 



206 ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 

chap, as laid before a Minister. It especially relates 

xx 
' — ' to expression, and will illustrate what I had 

in my thoughts, when I suggested that ex- 
pression should be made one of the main 
objects of the education of a statesman. The 
particular form of expression, which is now 
wanted by my imaginary Minister, is con- 
cerned with limitation. He will generally find, 
that when he goes wrong in the expression 
of his views, or his decisions, it is because 
the form of expression used has been need- 
lessly wide — in matters, too, where a single 
extraneous word may pledge him to actions, 
which he has no intention of undertaking. 
That the words should exactly clothe the 
subject-matter dealt with, is one of the greatest 
aids and safeguards in the conduct of all busi- 
ness, whether it appertains to the high art of 
statesmanship, or to the work-a-day business 
of the world. 
Rules not Another point to be carefully watched in 
fused with the conduct of business is, not to confuse rules 
with principles, and especially, that no man 
should needlessly lay down rules which may 
hamper himself. His principles may be ever 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 207 

so strict: the rules he lays down should be chap. 

XX. 

very elastic, and certainly he should not be ' — ' 

prone to communicate to others, needlessly, 
those rules which he may have instituted as 
guides to himself. Hence, in making com- 
munications upon the subject of the business 
alluded to, it is seldom wise to say, ' We Not to be 



commum- 



never do this, or that, or the other — it is con- cated 

needlessly. 

trary to our rules, or our practice. Perhaps, 
in a few weeks or months, there may come a 
case in which it is necessary to violate the 
rule, or depart from the practice ; and then 
there is an appearance of lamentable incon- 
sistency. The circumstances and conditions 
of life in any community, where high civili- 
zation prevails, are so numerous, various, 
and difficult, to be imagined, even by men 
of fertile imaginations, that no prudent man 
shuts himself up in rules made by himself, 
like a silkworm winding itself up in its own 
cocoon. 

Then there is the general correspondence 
about the matter to be considered. Herein 
there must be much continuity of aim and 
purpose, and, therefore, clearness of expres- 



208 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 



CHAP. 
XX. 



Failure 
through 
patch- 
work. 



Division 
of subject 
into 
sections. 



sion. If we could trace up some of the 
greatest errors to their source, we should pro- 
bably find, that many a decision which has 
failed to decide, and has, indeed, failed to con- 
vey its exact meaning in any way, has been 
thus made inefficient by its language, in some 
of the principal sentences, being thorough 
patchwork : designed by one man ; corrected 
by another ; revised by a third, while some 
little point, merely of diction, has at the last 
been interlineated by a fourth. The final draw- 
ing of any important document should be one 
man's work, embodying the various correc- 
tions made by other men's minds, but having 
that unity and force which can only be the 
outcome of a single mind. 

Another important point in the transaction 
of business, and especially in such a case as I 
have been considering, is to divide the sub- 
ject-matter into several sections. One of the 
chief arts in mastering any subject consists in 
subdivision. It is an art which presupposes 
the existence of method. In a previous chap- 
ter on education, I was able to make only a 
few suggestions as to how this supreme effort 



ON THE CONDUCT OF LUSINLSS. 209 



of division and classification, called method, chap. 

xx. 
could be taught. It is a thing, however, of ' •— *- 



inestimable value, and must, somehow or 
other, be acquired by any man who has to 
deal promptly with business of much pressure 
and magnitude. Referring to the case in ques- 
tion, there may be scores of arguments apply- 
ing: to different sections of the case. If these Argu- 

merits of 

arguments are left as separate forces, as it respective 

& r sections to 

were, and are not brought, as a mathema- b f c ? n ~ 

<=> ' elusions. 

tician would say, to ' resultants ' in their re- 
spective sections, the man who has to decide, 
wanders about in a jungle of unsettled thought, 
and is perpetually taking up his facts and argu- 
ments at wrong times, in the course of forming 
his determination. Whereas, if the various 
facts and arguments had been brought to 
their conclusions in their respective sections, 
the Minister's labour, in coming to a deter- 
mination upon the whole subject, would have 
been almost indefinitely facilitated. 

This supposed case has now been con- 
sidered in much detail ; and it has been shown 
that there are many ways by which the labour 
of dealing with it may be lightened, while 

p 



2IO 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 



CHAP. 
XX. 



Import- 
ance of 
indirect 
results. 



Remedies 
fraught 
with great 
indirect 
conse- 
quences. 



the issue is rendered more felicitous and con- 
clusive. The same methods which are applied 
to great matters of statesmanship are, no 
doubt, applicable to all kinds of business. 

I shall conclude this chapter with a 
remark, which also applies to all kinds of 
business — indeed to almost all forms of 
human endeavour. It is that the indirect 
results of any course of action are nearly 
always the most important. Hence it is, 
that what we call worldly wisdom is so 
difficult to attain ; for hardly any man is 
sagacious enough, or has that breadth of 
knowledge, which would enable him to see 
all the indirect consequences of any course of 
action he decides upon ; although he may 
perceive very clearly the direct result of that 
course. 

For example, he discerns an evil ; he re- 
solves to provide a remedy ; but the mode by 
which he does so is, perhaps, one which in- 
directly shall be fraught with good or evil 
consequences, far exceeding in magnitude 
those direct results that he distinctly fore- 
sees, and is resolved to accomplish. 



ON THE CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. 2 1 1 

We may turn to natural science for an char 

.A.X.. 

illustration. There are rays of heat and of ' "" 
actinism, which are not revealed by the spec- 
trum, but which play a vital part in the 
operations of nature. The statesman who 
does not take note of the probable conse- 
quences of his actions, other than those which 
are their direct result, resembles the philoso- 
pher who should treat the visible light-rays 
as though they were not accompanied by 
other rays, for the effects of which he must 
not fail to make wide allowance, and far-seeing 
calculation. 




P2 



CHAPTER XXI. 



IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY OF A NATION 
CONSISTS. 

chap. T T 7HILE we are considering the various 

~ ^ ' V V functions and modes of government, 

it is desirable, from time to time, to bring 

back our minds to a consideration of what 

should be the main objects of government. 

In the first place ; it must be recollected, 
that the prosperity of a nation is a thing 
somewhat different from the prosperity even 
of all the individuals who constitute it. To 
begin with, there is this main element of dif- 
ference — namely, that the life of a nation is 
of so much longer duration than that of an 
individual. It might so happen, that a great 
majority of the individuals, composing a na- 
tion, should at any time be singularly unpros- 
perous — should, indeed, be going through 
a phase of unprosperousness which might, 



National 
and indi- 
vidual 
pros- 
perity. 



Not 
identical. 



PROSPERITY OF A NATION. 21 



after all, conduce largely to the ultimate wel- chap. 

X.X1. 



fare of the nation, and be, in fact, a necessary * 
form of that nation's continuous prosperity. 
It can hardly be said, that the individuals of 
a nation are prosperous, while it is in the 
agony of a revolution, and when every peace- 
ful citizen is crippled in his resources, as also 

in the profitable use of his labour. But, for Revolu- 
tions may 

the ultimate prosperity of the nation, this be neces- 
sary. 

revolution may be absolutely essential. 

Another aspect of this matter may be 
obtained by the consideration of what takes a nation 

of slaves 

place in a nation, consisting chiefly of slaves and of 

slave- 

and slave-owners. This is a very simple owners 
form of human society. It has immense 
disadvantages, as we all know, in regard to 
the social relations of master and man. But 
it has also another enormous disadvantage. 
As the great bulk of the nation requires food, 
clothing, and habitation of the same kind and 
pattern, the arts of life must languish ; diver- 
sity of culture will be wanting ; and skill in 
artizanship cannot be educed in such a com- 
munity. No man, with any foresight, can call 
that a prosperous nation, for though there 



214 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 



chap, may be considerable material comfort for the 
xxi. J 

— ' — ' slaves, as well as the masters, that nation 



must be at the mercy of any nation of free- 
men, simply because of the diversity of pro- 
duct and of culture, which belong to the one, 
and are so greatly wanting in the other. 

Now, I would ask my readers to apply 
their reflections on this slave State to other 
States, which are not infested with slavery. 
They will perceive, I think, how much ad- 
vantage is to be gained by great diversity in 
the conditions of the various classes consti- 
tuting any State. 

At the present time there is a dead set 
made against all privileges, and against any- 
thing which tends to make diversity in rank 
and fortune in the State. This is the tendency 
of what is called the democratic movement of 
Demo- the world. This democratic movement has 

ctatic 

movement, jts origin in some of the noblest aspirations of 
our nature ; but we must take care that it does 
not dwarf the highest forms of culture and 
well-being, while it tends to raise, politically 
speaking, the lowest class of our fellow-subjects. 

made°ofit. We should avail ourselves of this force 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 21 5 



to raise the lowest class of the community, chap. 

-X.X..L. 

but should be very careful not to make the ' ■ ' 
movement a destructive, instead of a con- 
structive, one. 

There is no doubt that if, having the world 
to deal with as a new thing, we could begin 
by initiating a social system, which should 
prevent all poverty, and protect all help- 
lessness, much might be said in favour of 
endeavouring to institute such a system. It Social 

system of 

is manifest, I think, that the ancient Peru- Peruvians, 
vians, under the rule of the Incas, approached 
more nearly to the adoption of that social 
system than any other nation which, as far 
as we know, has ever appeared on the face 
of this earth. But even if we had, with 
our present knowledge, to begin again the 
peopling of this world, it would still remain 
somewhat doubtful, whether the social system 
indicated would be the best one possible — 
namely, that which would lead to the highest 
development of mankind. 

But we must, in fact, look at the world 
as it is before us — a world bearing on its sur- 
face enormous diversity of habitations ; great 



2l6 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 

chap, variety of agriculture ; various races and or- 

.A-.X.J.. 

w ' ' ders of men differently educated ; in short, 
a world transmitted to us, stamped with the 
result of all the work of our ancestors — work 
intellectual, moral, and physical — and we have 
to make the best of it. But we shall fail in 
doing so, if we omit to take into consideration 
those enlarged views for the good of the 
people in general, which were often sadly 
absent from their labours. 

A nation is really in a hideous state of 
difficulty and danger, which has its feet sunk 
in the mire of ignorance, to use a bold meta- 
phor, while its body is of somewhat noble 
aspect, and its head may seem to tower 
towards the skies. I cannot look at its situ- 
ation as otherwise than one of extreme diffi- 
culty and of great danger. I can no more 
call that a prosperous nation, than I could call 
that nation happy, which exists at a dead 
level of attainment — physical, intellectual, and 
moral — and which gives but little hope of fur- 
ther advancement towards the highest aims 
of life. 

There is a great delusion, which, I fear, 
besets us all, and which often daunts our best 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 2\*J 



hopes and noblest aspirations, which delusion chap. 
is mainly fostered by an ill-considered appli- *- ■ ' 
cation of history. We are apt to fancy that 
the fate of a nation necessarily resembles that 
of a single human being — that it has its boy- 
hood, its youth, its maturity of manhood, and 

its senility. I believe, that if we were bolder The seve- 
ral ages of 

in our hopes, our aspirations, and our endea- a nation, 
vours, we should resolutely refuse to consider 
nations in this limited manner ; but should 
resolve, that we would consider the nation, to 
which we may belong, as capable of rein- 
vigorating itself by returning to any of the fore- They do 

not neces- 

mentioned epochs of its national life, to which, sariiy tend 

to deca- 

for the time, it would be most advantageous dence. 
to return. This I admit is an enthusiastic 
view ; but if many men partook of it, it would 
be capable of being realized. Despondency 
and indolence are the two main agents that 
restrain the progress of mankind, both in 
material and in social well-being. Our en- 
lightenment should lead us continually into 
reconstruction of all that is fruitful — as well 
as into destruction of all that is harmful. 

Many years ago, when elaborate researches Dangerous 
were being made into the condition of the 



2l8 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 

chap, lowest classes in London, it was stated that it 

XXI. 

' ■ ' contained about 350,000 persons belonging to 

what may well be called the dangerous classes. 
Now, this word 'dangerous' is not meant 
to apply merely to the politically dangerous. 
It is meant to include those who, from their 
miserable condition of life, are dangerous to the 
well-being of the State from the means they 
afford for the promotion of disease ; ignorance ; 
crime ; and the example of evil living of all 
kinds. A State cannot be called prosperous, 
which contains a very large body in such a 
condition as I have just described. 
Action Of late years, however, not only has our 

British Government devoted itself to the effort (an 
entirely new effort, by the way, and the 
highest duty of a government) of ameliora- 
ting the condition and promoting the well- 
being of its lowest class, upon which the whole 
superstructure rests, but there have been 
found individuals who, highly placed them- 
selves, have given their lives and fortunes to 
this same great object. 

In few words, the prosperity of a nation 
consists in combining the highest culture — 



govern- 
ment. 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 219 

which must always be somewhat connected chap. 

xxi. 
with privilege — with a due consideration for *- — ■ — ~ 

the lowest section of the community, which Prosperity 

•11 of nation. 

for ever deserves, and will amply repay, our 
utmost regard for its well-being. The object 
of statesmen should very much resemble that 
of a good schoolmaster, who, while he keeps 
an eye upon the most prominent and hopeful 
of his scholars, is yet worth nothing, as a 
schoolmaster, if he does not care more for the 
far larger number, who can only be expected 
to attain to mediocrity of culture. 

It would be a sad thing, and in no way 
conduce to our national prosperity, if we 
could only raise the lowest by the depression 
of the highest ; and it would be unwise to 
ignore the danger, always to be apprehended 
and guarded against, of the tendency to lower 
the highest development of a nation, by an 
ill-considered destruction of means, oppor- 
tunities, and privileges, which would in no 
way promote the grand object of raising the 
lowest class to a state of political efficiency, 
and of unenvious and hopeful well-being. 

In order to consider my subject with the 



2 20 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 



chap, care that it deserves, it is requisite to dwell 

XXl. 



"~ r ~ ' somewhat upon the fate and fortunes of those 
nations which have distinguished themselves 
in the world's history, but which ha*ve sub- 
Decadence sequently fallen into decadence. I doubt 

through 

exhaus- whether any of the reasons, which have been 

tion. 

assigned for that decadence, reach to the real 
cause — the causa causans, as the metaphy- 
sicians would call it. I doubt, for instance, 
whether luxury, or whether the irruption of 
barbarian hordes, has been the true cause 
of the downfall of nations. I think it would 
be found in the exhaustion of hope and pur- 
pose — an exhaustion to which bad Govern- 
ment must very greatly contribute. Take 
Rome. the Romans for instance. They had done 
almost everything that a nation could do ; and 
had done it well. They had colonized ; they 
had conquered ; they had, to a certain de- 
gree, assimilated other peoples to themselves. 
They had tried all forms of government. 
But there came a time when they became 
hide-bound, as it were ; and there was a total 
want of hope and faith in the nation. This, 
I believe, may be perceived throughout the 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 221 



literature of the Lower Empire. Men had chap. 

r XXI. 

ceased to believe, that there was anything ■ " 
good to be done in respect of political and 
social life. And men are so constituted, that 
they cannot work well, or even fight well, 
when their minds are in this state of stag- 
nation. 

Now, there may be a state of stagnation stagnation 

• • r • fatal to 

which is not in this way fatal, because* it prosperity. 
arises from something which can be removed. 
Take, for instance, the superincumbent 
weight of slavery. That may cause a nation 
to stagnate as long as it exists. But once re- 
move it, or begin to remove it, the ener- 
gies of the nation are unfettered, and it 
springs up again with renewed life. Again, 
take a nation which, from some circum- 
stances, has not hitherto engaged in com- 
merce. Let there be an outlet made for 
commercial enterprise, and this nation will Com- 

. merce. 

revive. The Romans, however, had tried 
everything ; had succeeded to a certain extent 
in their various endeavours, but had not after- 
wards found any new outlet for hope, en- 
deavour, and perseverance. The fate of the 



2 22 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 



chap. Roman Empire would, in all probability, have 

X.X.1. 

> — ' been very different, and it might have sub- 
How the sisted for many generations longer, if the 
Emph-e New World had been discovered by a Roman. 

might have . . 

been pro- The vast undertakings, which this discovery 

longed. 

would have occasioned, would have infused 
new life throughout the Roman Empire, and 
would have given exactly that stimulus, and 
that hopefulness, which I hold to be the main- 
springs of a nation's prosperity. 
Spain and In answer to this, it will be said: that 

the New 

World. Spain did not profit by her conquest of the 
New World. I contend that she did profit, 
and very largely, and that the conquest of 
the New World was not the cause of the de- 
cadence of Spain. That was occasioned by 
far other causes. Any limitation of thought 
in anything in which humanity is deeply con- 
cerned, is a cause for decadence in a nation. 
Now, Spain with her Inquisition, and with 
the continuous bigotry of successive kings, 
was limited in religious thought. The phy- 
sical result of this limitation is most con- 
spicuous. The power of Spain broke itself, 
as it were, upon the Protestantism of the 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 223 



Netherlands. The character of the people chap 

1 r XXL 

was such as to give the greatest weight to y *~~~ 1 — ' 

monarchical institutions, and the greatest 
effect to the character of the reigning mon- 
arch. The Spaniards, from the accession 
of Philip II., in 1556, to the present time, Political 
have been, with the sole exception of tunes of 

Spain. 

Charles III., exceedingly unfortunate in this 
respect. They were also singularly unfortu- 
nate in their relations with other countries, 
which had, notably in the case of the War of 
Succession, pretexts for interfering in the 
internal affairs of Spain. Doubtless other 
causes for her downfall might be adduced by 
anyone well skilled in Spanish history ; but 
I am only concerned, at this moment, to show, 
that the discovery and conquest of the New 
World, by Spain, was not the compelling 
cause of its temporary decadence ; and, cer- 
tainly, I do not know how it can be main- 
tained that an increase of enterprize, an 
enlarged field for adventure, great addition 
of material products, and an immense exten- 
sion of commerce (all which good things 
accrued to Spain by the conquest of the 



2 24 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 

chap. Indies), can be deemed to be hurtful to a 
xxl . ; 

' — > — ' nation's prosperity. 

Prosperity At the same time, I must own, for this is 

rather than part of my main argument, that all these good 

physical. % m m 

things might exist in a nation which yet 
should be hastening to its downfall. For, 
after all, I consider the prosperity we are 
now discussing, to depend upon what is men- 
tal and moral rather than upon what is 
physical. It is not present prosperity, it is 
not even growth ; it is, to use a big word of 
which Dr. Johnson was very fond, poten- 
tiality ; and we may even recall a memorable 
occasion on which he used that word, which 
will amply illustrate my present use of it. 
'We are not selling a parcel of tubs and 
vats/ he exclaimed, when he was acting as 
Mr. Thrale's executor ; * we are selling the 
Saying of potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams 

Dr. John- .... . ,. 

son. of avarice. Now it is this potentiality, not 

merely of growing rich, but of being some- 
thing more or other, of doing something more 
or other, than it has hitherto been or done, 
which constitutes the essential and assured 
prosperity of a nation. There should be 



Oh A NATION CONSISTS. 225 



growth, or at least the power of growth ; chap, 



there must be hope ; there must be consider- 
able freedom of thought, and action, in any Power of 

growth 

nation that claims to be considered prosperous, essential. 

In any endeavour to show in what the 
prosperity of a nation consists, and how the 
decadence of nations has often been precipi- 
tated, it may not be inappropriate to make 

some allusion to the subject of mob-govern- Mob go- 
vernment 
ment. I suppose it will be admitted that 

there is no surer sign, if not of the decadence 

of a nation, at any rate of the weakness of its 

legislative government, than if mob-rule is 

permitted, though only occasionally, to prevail. 

I have elsewhere l described at large what Danger 

from it. 

I think to be the peculiar evil of a mob, and 
the danger to be apprehended from a mob 
governing. It is, briefly, that a mob differs in 
its composition from day to day — nay, from 
hour to hour. It cannot well, therefore, have 
experience, or conscience, or consistency to 
appeal to. 



Conversations on War and Culture. Smith, Elder 
& Co. London, 187 1. 

Q 



226 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 

chap. The subject, however, which I am going to 

XXI. 

■ — ' treat, is of a much wider nature. It has refer- 
ence to those principles and practices that 
Principles lead to, and initiate mob-government — which 

which lead 

to mob principles and practices are often encouraged 

rule. 

by men of considerable powers of thought 
and understanding. 

As a preliminary, I would ask such men to 
consider, what a serious thing it is to incul- 
cate principles which tend to revolutionize a 
State. It is like disturbing virgin earth, which 
it would take unknown ages to compress again 
into its original form. It was not without 
some show of reason, that our ancestors de- 
creed the most fearful punishments for high 
treason. Consider the labour of untold gene- 
rations, that has gone to make a State, even if 
that State be one which has many faults of 
government, and much that requires to be 
remedied or improved. There is an admi- 
Passage rable passage in Montesquieu's * Grandeur 
Montes- des Romains ' : ' C'est ici qu'il faut se donner 

quieu. 

le spectacle des choses humaines. Qu'on 
The case voie dans l'histoire de Rome tant de guerres 

of Rome. . 

entrepnses, tant de sang repandu, tant de 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 227 



peuples detruits, tant de grandes actions, chap. 

XXI. 



tant de triomphes, tant de politique, de sagesse, ' ■ — ' 

de prudence, de Constance, de courage ; ce 

projet d'envahir tout, si bien forme, si bien 

soutenu, si bien fini, a quoi aboutit-il qu'a 

assouvir le bonheur de cinq ou six monstres ? ' 

In this case, all these labours, this thought, its dis- 
astrous 
these sufferings, went to create the power of a fate. 

brutal emperor ; but the same thing may hap- 
pen in the creation of the power of a brutal 
mob. 

Now, there are several aims and principles 
which tend to produce a tyrant power of this 
description, which aims and principles are 
somewhat rife in the present day. These Rifeness 
have been already touched upon, but not lutionary 

• • ^-\ r principles. 

exactly with the same object. One of them 
is the abandonment of privilege. Another is 
the endeavour to do away with differences of 
station, education, and position of all kinds. 
Whereas, it will uniformly be found that the 
highest civilization co-exists with, and even 
depends upon, the existence of these dif- 
ferences. A State is never in more danger 
of some rude disturbance, in the way of 

Q2 



228 IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 

chap, revolution, than when it is composed of a 
' ' ' few classes, the circumstances of each being 
Landor. nearly similar. The eloquent Landor says — 
' The greatest power on earth, or that ever 
existed on earth, is the power of the British 
public ; its foundation morals, its fabric wis- 
dom, its circumvallation wealth.' But even 
this mighty British public, with all its wisdom, 
its morals, and its wealth, is not safe from 
being imposed upon by ragged and dangerous 
ideas, mainly put forward by men of that 
smallness of purview, and narrowness of sym- 
pathy, that their minds can only entertain 
a few incomplete dogmas. If you observe, 
closely, the course of thought of any one of 
Men of these fanatical thinkers, you will mostly find 

one idea . . . 

dangerous, it to be subjected to one predominant idea. 
This one idea generally has some plausibility 
in it, and is nearly sure to be well put forward : 
for the man who has but one idea to manage, 
can manage that well, as he is not troubled 
by inconvenient exceptions or circumscrip- 
tions of any kind. And so the idea gets 
vogue — especially among the class that it is 
supposed to favour — and then you have the 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 229 



thinking in mobs, and the acting- in mobs, chap. 

XXI 

which are so prejudicial to a State. • <— - 

Now, turning to a very different source of Perils from 

misgovern* 

danger, which may end in mob-government, m«it. 
I would remark that the only weight which 
socialist theories of the wildest kind intrin- 
sically possess, is derived from that mis-go- 
vernment which has led to such degraded 
modes of existence, among the poorest of our 
people, especially in great cities. And yet I 
should hardly say mis-government, so much 
as absence of government- — of that paternal 
government which is so much misappre- 
hended, and so much contemned by doctri- 
naires. Government neglect leads to mob 
interference, and perhaps revolution. 

How admirable are the words of Schiller, 
applied by the poet to war, but which are 
applicable to all violence, whether of thought 
or of action ! I subjoin Coleridge's transla- 
tion of the passage : — 

My son ! of those old narrow ordinances 
Let us not hold too lightly. They are weights 
Of priceless value, which oppressed mankind 
Tied to the volatile will of their oppressors. 
For always formidable was the league 



23O IN WHAT THE PROSPERITY 

CHAP. And partnership of free power with free will. 

xx ^_ The way of ancient ordinance, though it winds, 

Is, yet no devious way. Straight forward goes 
The lightning's path, and straight the fearful path 
Of the cannon-ball. Direct it flies, and rapid, 
Shattering that it may reach, and shattering what it 

reaches. 
My son ! the road, the human being travels, 
That on which blessing comes and goes, doth follow 
The river's course, the valley's playful windings, 
Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines, 
Honouring the holy bounds of property ! 
And thus secure, though late, leads to its end. 

As I have said before ; differences of con- 
dition co-exist with, and probably tend to, 
high civilization. It may seem inconsistent, 
that I should be dissatisfied with the differ- 
ence of condition indicated above. But here, as 
elsewhere, every maxim that is laid down has 
to be interpreted by the aid of common sense. 
There are differences, and differences of con- 
dition. The one set wholesome and en- 
couraging; the other dangerous, if not de- 
structive. 

In fine, if we wish to avoid the perils of 
mob-government, which even, in a short time, 
can put back for generations the hand upon 
the dial of civilization, there is not anything 



OF A NATION CONSISTS. 23 1 

we should more attend to than counteracting chap. 

XXL 

the prevalence of those mischievous ideas and " r ' 

theories which tend to the decomposition of Prevention 

of mob- 

a State — a thing so hard to re-compose, the govem- 
result of so much patience, of so much endur- 
ance, and, upon the whole, of so much magna- 
nimity. For no great State was ever built up 
without the toil, self-sacrifice, and renunci- 
ation of many noble persons, in many gene- 
rations. 




APPENDIX. 



Subsequently to writing these ' Thoughts upon Govern- APP. 
ment,' my attention has been drawn to a work of Wilhelm 
Von Humboldt, denning the limits of the action of a Baron 
State. 1 I do not know that any other writer has devoted vo ^ Hum- 
a whole work to the consideration of this important sub- boldt. 
ject : and the writer in question was a man of great 
eminence, and of large practical experience. The object 
of the work is indicated by the motto on the Title-page, object of 
which is taken from the writings of Mirabeau the elder — hls work - 
' Le difficile est de ne promulguer que des lois neces- 
saires, de rester a jamais fidele a ce principe vraiment 
constitutionnel de la societe, de se mettre en garde 
contre la fureur de gouverner, la plus funeste maladie 
des gouvernemens modemes.' 2 

Here, therefore, if anywhere, we might expect to find 
propositions laid down, which would contain fatal objec- 
tions to the views whicli I have put forward with respect 
to Paternal Government. One of Von Humboldt's 

1 ttSbeen 511 etnem Stafudv bte ©ranjen ber SBtrffamf eit beg 
®taat& ju befttmmen." 

2 Mirabeau l'aine, sur V Education publiquc, p. 6i. 



234 



APPENDIX. 



APR 



The citizen 
and the 
man. 



The State 
not to 
influence 
character 
of the 
nation. 



maxims is, that it is a most unhealthy state of things 
when the Man is sacrificed to the Citizen: the writer's 
object being to protect, in every way, the individual 
action of the Man. It may, on the other hand, be fairly 
contended, that it is an evil thing to sacrifice the Citizen 
to the Man. 

The general proposition which Von Humboldt lays 
down is as follows : 'that the State must altogether 
and absolutely abstain from all endeavour, whether direct 
or indirect, to influence the customs and the character 
of a nation, except in so far as this is unavoidable from 
a natural and self-originating consequence of its own 
absolutely necessary measures ; and that everything 
which has a tendency to promote this end, notably all 
special supervision of education, of religious institutions, 
or of sumptuary laws, should lie entirely beyond the 
limits of its action.' 1 

This is a very severe limitation of the action of a 
State, more especially as by the words 'necessary mea- 
sures ' the Author there means, as may be discerned from 
the context, only those measures of legislation and ad- 
ministration which refer to matters of justice and of war. 

Now it should be observed how even this writer, 
whose main object is to protect the free action of the 
individual, is obliged to limit his own limitation. In a 
succeeding chapter he says, ' The State, indeed, should 



1 //£)ajj ber &taat ftd) fd)led)tert>ing§ alleS 33effreben$, bixdt 
ober tnbtreft auf bie ©itten unb ben (Sbarafter ber barton anberS 
ju wivhn, att infofern btejii aU etne naturltcne/ oon fclbft enfc* 
ftebenbe $olge fetner ubrtgen [chlediterbtngS nothwenbtgen sjftaafjs 
re^elii unoeumeibltrf) ift, gangltd) tnfycdtm mfiffe/ unb bGj* alleS/ 
rcaS btefc 2Cbftd)t befoubern fann/ sotaugUd) olle befonbre 2Cufft'd)t 
auf ©rjie^ung/ SKeltgtonganftalten, SuyuSgefe^e u.f.f. fchlechterbingS 
aufevfyalb ber ©cbtanfen feinec SBfrffamfcit liege." 



APPENDIX. 235 



in no wise provide for the positive welfare of the citizens, APP. 
therefore also not for their life and health — unless, indeed, 
these are threatened with danger by the actions of others 
— but certainly for their security. And only in so far as 
this security itself may suffer, for as much as fraud takes 
advantage of ignorance, could such supervision come 
within the sphere of action of the State. 1 

This single exception, with regard to ' the actions of Energy, 
others,' appears to me to justify most of what I have an ^ ^ 
said respecting Paternal Government. Von Humboldt virtue of 
contends that energy is ' the first and only virtue of man- 
kind ; ' and the reason why he deprecates governmental 
interference is lest it should diminish this energy. But 
still he is compelled to make the important foregoing 
exception to his general proposition. 

The whole subject of governmental interference is a 
very thorny one — very difficult to deal with by exact 
rules or principles, and rather requiring the application 
of common sense in each particular instance where such 
interference is proposed. When we consider the out- 
rageous interference with personal liberty, in those 
matters wherein personal liberty is most required, that 
has entered into the legislation of most countries : when 
we perceive how difficult it is to get such legislation 
repealed, as may be seen from one notable instance 
respecting the laws of marriage in our own country : 
we are almost inclined to adopt the strict limitations 

1 //£et Sraat foil nemltd) auf Mm SQSeife flic ba$ poft'tiue SBol)l 
ber Singer forgeii/ better aud) nict)t fur iljr fieben unb t'fyre ©efunbs 
fyett— eg miifken benn Jpanblungen anbrer tfjnen @efat ; r brotjen— 
abet xvot)l fur itjre <Std)erl)eit. Unb nur, infofern bie ©iebcrfyett 
felbjt leibert iann, tnbem SSetriigerei bte Umtnfjenfyeit benu^t/ fdnnte 
cine folcfce 2Cufftd)t tnnerfyalb ber ©ranjen ber SOSir![amlett beS 
©raatg liegen." 



236 APPENDIX. 



A PP. proposed by Wilhelm Von Humboldt. On the other 
hand, when we fully perceive what enormous benefits to 
the public may accrue from the restriction of liberty, as 
regards those * actions of others' which are noxious -to 
the welfare of the community, we are prone to call loudly, 
sometimes, perhaps, too loudly, for governmental inter- 
ference. 

Von Humboldt, as quoted above, has said that 'energy 
is the chief virtue of mankind.' These general statements 
about virtues or vices can seldom be absolutely admitted. 
But if one were obliged to make any statement at all 
about them, it might perhaps be more truly said, that 
indolence is the chief vice of mankind and moderation 
the principal virtue — at any rate the virtue which is most 
rarely practised. To avoid this vice and cultivate this 
virtue, are the two things mainly required in order to 
deal justly and wisely with this great matter of inter- 
ference, on the part of the State, in behalf of the public 
welfare. 




INDEX. 



ABO 

Abolition of offices, 183 

— of sinecures, 128 
Abuse of honours, 84 
Act, local, 58 

Act of Parliament, 147 

— working of a good, 149 

— inoperative, 154 

Action of the British Government, 
218 

— of a State, 233 

— of others, 235 

— of American Senate, 44 
Administration and legislation, 35, 

165 
Adulteration of drugs, 30 
Advantages of local government, 5 1 
Advice of lawyers, 177 

— of others, a minister acting with, 

201 
Affection, State not going wrong 

from excess of, 24 
Age, limitations as to, 69 

— of transition, 125 
Agents, value of good, 55 

— choice of, 69 

— trusting, 180 
Ages of a nation, 2 1 7 

Aids to government, 2, 14, 61, 96 
Ambassadors, origin of, 189 
Ambition, an evil, 153 



BRI 
Ambition, cause of misplaced, 155 
American Senate, 44 
Americans, a governable people, 8 
Anglo-Saxon race very critical, 144 
Anxiety of Ministers to make good 

appointments, 75 
Apology of Plato, 10 
Applause, absence of public, 80 
Appointments, making good, 75 
Argumentation, power of, 122 
Aristophanes. The Peaceful Citizen, 

25 
Art, advancement of, 2, 22 
Authority, central, 57, 59 
— local, 57 

Author's claims for being heard, 3 
Average of thought, 202 
'Avid of tacts,' Talleyrand, 134 



Bacon, Lord, 10 1 

Benevolence of certain employers, 

159 
Bent of one's mind to be guarded 

against, 203 
British, easy to govern, 8 

— moderate in rebellion, 9 

— cautious, 9 

— not envious, 16 

— constant, 16 



2 3 8 



INDEX. 



BRI 

British, critical, 17 

— tolerant, 17 

— averse to extremes, 17 

Boar, fable of the troublesome, 84 
Boards, 102, 103, 183 
Broom, economy about a, 181 
Buckhounds, master of the, 77 
Bureaucracy, fear of a, 28 



Cabinets, sinecures in, 127 

Captains of industry, 37 

Care, practical, in choice of men, 74 

Case submitted to a Minister, 199 

Causa causans, a, 220 

Cauticn, British, 9 

Caveat emptor, 27, 30 

Central authority, imperial nature 

of 5 57 

— what it really is, 59 

— inspecting, not superseding, local 

authority, 57 
Chairman, choice of a, 102 
Chamber, a second, 38 

— defects of a single, 40 

— De Tocqueville on, 43 
Character of advisers to be consi- 
dered, 202 

China, competitive examinations in, 

62 
Citizen and the man, 234 
Coleridge's translation of Schiller, 

229 
Colonial affairs, dealing with, 22 
Colonies, knowledge of, 144 
•Colonists, British the best of, 193 

— in Parliament, 47 
Commerce, 221 

Commercial enterprise, outlet for, 

221 
Commune of Paris, 42 
Communications, to the press, 172 



DAN 

Communications unnecessary, 168 
Competitive examinations, 62 

— adopted in China, 62 

— advantage of, 63 

— inefficiency of, 63 

— motives for, 67 

— example of an opposite system, 77 
Compromises, 17 

Conclusions of author mostly apply 
to Great Britain, 5 

Condition of lower classes, 146 

Conduct of majorities, 1 1 

Conservatives, first opinion on Am- 
bassadors, 189 

Constitution, of a Department, 1 74 

— of the Privy Council, 109 

— George III. on British, 6 

— M. Guizot on British, 18 
Correspondence, publishing diplo- 
matic, 195 

Council, Privy, 109 
Councils, various, 43 

— use of, 96 

— two kinds of, 97 

— special nature, 98 

— tendency of representative, 98 

— advantages to be derived from, 

99 

— characteristics of, 100 

— fatigue in, 10 1 

— choice of chairman for, 102 

— ■ sections should interchange du- 
ties, 103 

— special utility of, 105 
Counsellors, ex officio, 104 

— ' multitude of,' 97 
Criticism, 37, 62, 123 

— British, 1 7 



Dangerous classes, their number, 
217 



INDEX. 



239 



DEB 
Debating societies of some use, 139 
Decadence of nations, 220 
— of Rome, 220 

— of Spain, 222 

Defence of a Department, 49 
Definition, of a State, true, 132 
Democratic agency, 158 

— movement, use to be made of, 

214 
Departments not to be sacrificed to 
Parliament, 165 

— defence of, 49 

— attachment to, 49 

— origin of some, 1 14 

— officers in a, 174 

— extra officers for a, 1 70 

— intellectual power of a, 1 73 
Despondency, 217 

Details, love of, 134 

— mastery of, 1 33 

De Tocqueville's opinion on a se- 
cond Chamber, 43 
Detrimental honours, 91 
Development of opinions, 1 3 
Diplomacy, 188 

— a new thing, 188 

— failure of, 194 

— failure of, a cause of war, 193 

— a preventative of war, 197 

— the future of, 197 
Diplomatic correspondence pub- 
lished, 195 

Disobedience to be allowed for, 204 
Distrust, false economy, 180 
Division of labour, 21 
Doctrinaire, 17, 125, 229 
Double-first, the, 75 
Drugs, adulteration of, 30 



Economy, political, 2 
— false, 178 



FOR 
Economy, alse, a disaster, 178 

— a plausible thing, 178 

— broom, 181 

— private, 181 

— true, 182 

Eckermann's conversations with 

Goethe, reference to, 12 
Education of statesmen never ends, 
142 

— special, of a statesman, 133 
Electors and elected, 95 

Energy, the first and only virtue of 

mankind, 235, 236 
Examinations, non-competitive, 77 
Ex-officio counsellors, 104 
Experience not always in the form of 

reason, 4 

— of a minister, 150 
Experienced men, 76 
Expression, power of, 135 

— national power of, 136 

— includes logic, 136 

— an art to be cultured, 136 

— includes method, 136 

— want of, obvious to all, 137 
Evils, political, created, 94 



Fable of the cuckoo and eagle, 

85 

— troublesome boar, 85 

— king and counsellors, 86 

— wandei'ing tribe of Thibet, 87 
Failure through patchwork, 208 
False economy, disastrous, 178 

— a plausible thing, 178 

— a case of, 1 79 

Fanaticalthinkers, dangerous, 228 
Fatigue in councils, IOI 
Fluellen, saying of, 59 
Foresight needed, 125 

— very rare, 125 



240 



INDEX. 



FOR 
Foresight, not to be confined to 
statesmen, 128 

— benefits resulting from, 130 

— in regard to panics, 13 1 
Fraternal government, 34 
Free-trade, 12 

Friendship between officials, 50 
Functions of government, I 



Gas Works in large cities, 19 
Generosity, 177 

George III.'s opinion of British con- 
stitution, 6 

— and the Irish baron, 83 
Girondins, the, 129 

Glass hive, government like bees in 

a, 176 
Goethe on minorities, 12 

— a saying of, 40 

' Gold lends mighty force,' 89 
Good appointments, anxiety to 

make, 75 
Government, its functions, I 

— aids to, 2, 14, 6.1, 96 

— interference, 20, 26 

— central, 57 

— relations with the press, 172 

— organizing skill required in, 121 

— working of British, 176 

— mob, 231 

— paternal, 23 

— perils from bad, 229 

— fraternal, 34 

— local, 51 
Gravina, 132 

Grandeur des Romains, 226 
Grievances to be dealt with singly, 

151 
Guizot's, M., opinion of England, 
18 



INT 
Hallam on the Privy Council, 1 10 
Health ought to be the care of go- 
vernment, 32 
Hereditary peers, 45 
History, high use of, 129 

— study of, 199 

— how statesmen should study, 135 
Honours, conferred rightly, 83 

— a case of abuse, 83 

— not less wanted as civilization ad- 

vances, 84 

— bestowal of, from fear, favour, 

riches, age, 89 

— detrimental, 90 

— how not to be used, 91 

— recently conferred on civil ser- 

vants, 

— Napoleon on, 84 
House of Lords, 44 

— defects of, 44 

— proposed reforms for, 45 
Human affairs, interest in, to be cul- 
tivated early, 141 



Imperial interests must outweigh 

popular clamour, 147 
Improvement, in contrast with re- 
form, 152 
Improvements in London, 156 
Improvers, scope for, 154, 160 
Indirect results, importance of, 210 
Indolence, allowance for, to be made, 

204 
Inferiors, choice of, 79 
— dependence on, 78 
Infirmity of noble minds, 160 
Information for the press, 172, 175 
Intellects, Machiavelli's classifica- 
tion of, 106 
Intellectual power of Departments, 
173 



INDEX. 



2 4 I 



INT 
Intellectual powers of the public 

press, 171 
Interference, government, 20, 26 

— just and necessary, 27 

— danger from too little, 29 

— cases unfit for, 31 

— limits of, 35 

— on behalf of workpeople, 32 

— on behalf of purchaser, 31 
Inquisition in Spain, 222 
Interviews, personal, desirable, 74 



Jobbery, 67 
— fear of, 73 
Johnson, Dr., 37, 224 
Justice, love of, 139 



King George III.'s opinion of Bri- 
tish Constitution, 6 ; making an 
Irish baron, 83 

— Louis XV., 130 

— and his counsellors, fable of the, 

85 
Knowledge of class views, 147 

— of facts, 1 34 
Kriloi's fable, 84 



Labour, division of, 21 
Landor, 228 
Lawyers' advice, 177 
Legislation and administration, 35, 

165 
Letters addressed to a minister, 163 
Life peerages, 45 
Limits of interference, 35 
Local Act, 58 
Local authority, not superseded by 

central authority, 57 
Local government, 51 



MIS 
Local government forms adminis- 
trators, 51 

— occupies restless spirits, 52 

— brings classes together, 52 

— teaches difficulties, 52 

— higher classes should take part 

in, 53 

— advantages of, 54 

— limits of, 54 

Local knowledge, advantage of, 66 

Lois, P esprit des, 132 

London, need of improvement in, 

156 
Lords, House of, 44 
Louis XV., 130 
Love of detail, 134 
Lower classes, condition of, 146 



Machiavelli's classification of in- 
tellects, 106 
Majorities, 10 

Majority, general obedience to, 15 
Massing of population, 20 
Mastery of details, 133 
Meetings, public, 145 
Minister absorbed in work, 126 

— critics of, often impracticable 

126 

— need for less work, 127 

— education of, 133 

— case submitted to a, 199 
Minister's experience, 150 

— knowledge mostly official, 143 

— time, 161 

— private letters, 163 

— holidays, 167 
Ministers in Parliament, 164 
Minorities, Goethe's opinion on, 

12 
Mire of ignorance, 216 
Misgovernment, peril from, 229 



R 



242 



INDEX. 



MIS 
Misunderstanding, a cause of quarrel, 

190 
Mob-government, 225 

— danger from, 225 

— principles which lead to, 226 
- preventative of, 231 

Montesquieu, 132, 226 
Moor, Schiller's, 81 



Napier, quotation from, 205 
Napoleon I. on honours, 84 
Nation of slaves and slaveowners, 

213 
National prosperity, 212, 219 

— age, 217 

— decadence, 220 
New world, 222 



Occasion, errors concerning, 39 
Occasion, not opportunity, 41 
Offices, abolition of, 183 
Opinions of George III. on the 
Constitution, 6 

— of De Tocqueville on the same, 

43 

— of Goethe on minorities, 12 

— Guizot on England, 18 

— Napoleon I. on honours, 84 
— development of, 13 

— Von Humboldt on paternal go- 

vernment, 233 
Organizing minds, 7 1 

— should be sought, 123 
Organization, skill in, 1 15 

— not a gift peculiar to any race, 1 16 

— of a Department, 1 74 

— want of, at entertainments, 118 

— want of, at railways, 119 

— its importance, 1 20 

— not teachable, 120 



POI 
Organization wanted in government, 

121 
— powers of argumentation and, 122 
Organizer, qualities of a, 116 
Origin of some departments, 1 14 



Panics, 131 
Paris, the commune, 42 
Parliament impeding good govern- 
ment, 36 

— questions in, 36, 168 

— seats in, 93, 94 

— colonists in, 47 

— conduct of a Bill in, 169 
Parliamentary influence, abuse of, 

68 
Party, political and press, 153 

— names, 153 
Patchwork, 208 

Paternal government, 23, 233 

— good policy, 24 

— its limits, 24 

— prevents revolution, 32 

— to be welcomed, 33 

— Von Humboldt on, 233 
Peaceful citizen, the, 25 
Pecuniary tests, 70 
Peerages, life, 45 

— hereditary, 45 

— special, 45 
People, voice of the, 14 

— massing of, 20 

— not guided by press, 143 
Permanent officers, 48 
Personal interviews, 74 
Peruvians, social system of, 215 
' Philip drunk,' 41 

Pitt in Parliament, 169 

— and Wolfe, 72 
Plato's Apology, 10 
Poisons, sale of, 30 



INDEX. 



243 



POL 
Political economy, 2 

— misfortunes of Spain, 223 

— officers, 48 

— evils created, 94 
Pope, quotation from, 6 
Popular ideas, 146 

Powers of organization and argu- 
mentation, 122 
' Prave ords, ' 59 
Precedent, its value, 201 
Press, powers of, 1 71 

— alliance with a party, 1 71 

— relations of, with government, 

172 

— literary power, very great, 174 
Primary tests, 66 

'Prince,' quotation from Machia- 

velli's, 107 
Private Secretaries, 184 
Privileges, 214 
Privy Council, 109 

— its constitution, 1 10 

— Hallam on the, no 

— not concerned with any party, 

in 

— sub-departments of, 113 

— powers of, 112 

— high utility, 112 

— suggestions for the improvement 

of, 113 
Promotion, 79 
Property, a creature of the State, 

22 
Prosperity, of a nation, 219 

— moral rather than physical, 224 
Proverbs, to be considered in pairs, 

198 
Public, meetings, 145 

— working of British government, 

176 

— should reserve opinion, 175 

— applause, absence of, 80 



REF 
Public speaking, 92 
Publication of diplomatic correspon- 
dence, 195 



Quacks, 158 

Qualifications for Peers, 46 
Questions in Parliament, ^6, 168 
Quotations from Coleridge's 
'Schiller,' 229 

— De Tocqueville, 43 

— Eckermann, 12 

— V Esprit des Lois, 132 

— Goethe, 12, 40, 89 

— G}'andeur des Romaim, 226 

— Guizot, 18 

— Hallam, no 

— Johnson, Dr., 37, 222 

— Krilof, 84 

— Landor, 228 

— Machiavelli's ' Prince,' 107 

— Mirabeau, 233 

— Montesquieu, 132, 226 

— Napier, 205 

— Pope, 6 

— Ralston, W., 84 

— Schiller, 81, 229 

— Shakespeare, 59 

— Talleyrand, 134 

— Taylor, Sir H., 79 

— Von Humboldt, 233 



Race, organization not a peculiar 

gift of any, 116 
Railways, want of organization at, 

119 
References and quotations to be 

verified, 200 
Reformer, efforts of a young, 26 
Reforms proposed for the House of 
Lords, 45, 46 



244 



INDEX. 



REP 
Representative council, tendency 

of, 98 
Representatives in foreign lands, 

value of, 192 
Revolution necessary at times, 16, 

213 

— principles of, rife, 227 
Rewards, for services, 183 

— for private secretaries, 184 

— hope of, should always be held 

open, 185 

— evils of narrow system of, 92 
Ridicule, a safeguard, 29 
Right placing of men, 71 
Rome, 220 

— how its empire might have been 

prolonged, 222 

— its fate, 227 
Routine, mill of, 122 

— like miller and his men, 128 
Rules and principles, 206 

— not to be made heedlessly, 207 



Sanitary matters, 55 

— powers, 59 
Scheele's green, 32 
Schiller's Moor, 81 

— on war, 229 

Scott, Sir Walter, his justice to 

opposite factions, 9 
Seal, putting a, to fame, 93 
Seats in Parliament, 93 

— excessive demand for, 94 
Second Chamber, 38, 40, 43 
Secretaries, private, 184 
Senate, American, action of, 44 
Service, best, how to be obtained, 

186 
Shadow, jumping off one's own, 40 
Sinecures, usefulness of, 127 

— abolition of, 128 



TES 
Skill in organization, 120, 121 
Slaves and slave-owning States, 213 
Slowness, a fatal defect, 76 
Social system of Peruvians, 215 
Socialists, aim of, 32 
Societies for debating, of some use, 

139 

Socrates' speech, 10 
Spain and New World, 222 

— political misfortunes of, 223 
Speaking, the art of, 138 

— in public, chiefly rewarded, 92 
Spirits, restless, work for, 52 
Stagnation, fatal to prosperity, 221 
State, true definition of the, 132 
Statesman, special education, 133 

— 'avid of facts,' 134 

— should study history, 135 

— expression requisite for, 136 

— much isolated, 142 
Stateman's knowledge, mostly offi 

cial, 143 
Study of history, 199 

— how statesmen stand, 135 
Sub-departments of Privy Council, 

113 

Subjects for government interfer- 
ence, 20 
Sun's rays, 211 
Supervision, ridiculous, 181 



Tabula Rasa, 155 

Talleyrand, 134 

Taxation, knowledge required for, 

147 
Taylor, Sir H., reference to his 

'Statesman,' 79, 133, 135 
Telegram from Paris, 42 
Tenure of property, 22 
Tests, primary, 66 
— pecuniary, 70 



INDEX. 



245 



THI 
Thinking, 204 
Time, error respecting it, 39 

— of ministers, 1 61 

— more, wanted for office work, 165 

— needed to master facts, 166 
Timidity, aided by good chairman, 

102 

— in a council, 97 
Transition, age of, 125 
Travel, English liking for, 144 
Travellers, vague views from, 191 
Tribe, the wandering, fable of, 87 
Trust, in agents, 180 

— necessary to vigorous action, 38 

Under-Secretaries, 48, 174 
Value of good agents, 53 



YEA 
Value, Napoleon's, of Ney, 61 

— of precedent, 201 

— of representatives abroad, 192 
Verification, 200 

Voice of the people, 14 
Von Humboldt, 233 



War prevented by diplomacy, 197 

— caused by failure of diplomacy, 

193 

— preparations for, 1 31 
Waterworks, 20 
Wellington, Duke of, 204 
Whist proposed as a test, 64 
Wolfe, Pitt's choice of, 72 



Years of discretion, 23 




ARTHUR HELPS'S WRITINGS. 



1. REALMAH. A Story. Price $2.00. 

2. CASIMIR MAREMMA. A Novel. Price $2.00. 

■z. COMPANIONS OF MY SOLITUDE. Price $1.50. 

4. ESSAYS WRITTEN IN THE INTERVALS OF BUS 

INESS. Price $1.50. 

5. BREVIA. Short Essays and Aphorisms. Price $1.50. 

6. CONVERSATIONS ON WAR AND GENERAL CUL- 

TURE. Price $1.50. 

7. THOUGHTS UPON GOVERNMENT. Price $2.25. 

From the London Review. 

"The tale (Realmah) is a comparatively brief one, intersected by the 
conversations of a variety of able personages, with most of whose names 
and characters we are already familiar through ' Friends in Council.' 
Looking at it in connection with the social and political lessons that are 
wrapt up in it, we may fairly attribute to it a higher value than could pos- 
sibly attach to a common piece of fiction." 

From a Notice by Miss E. M. Converse. 

"There are many reasons why we like this irregular book (Realmah), in 
which we should find the dialogue tedious without the story ; the story dull 
without the dialogue; and the whole unmeaning, unless we discerned the 
purpose of the author underlying the lines, and interweaving, now here, 
now there, a criticism, a suggestion, an aphorism ; a quaint illustration, an 
exhortation, a metaphysical "deduction, or a moral inference. 

"We gladly place ' Realmah' on the ' book-lined wall,' by the side of 
other chosen friends, — the sharp, terse sayings of the ' Doctor ' ; the sug- 
gestive utterances of the ' Noctes ' ; the sparkling and brilliant thoughts of 
'Montaigne'; and the gentle teachings of the charming ' Elia.'" 
From a Notice by Miss H. W. Preston. 

" It must be because the reading world is unregenerate that Arthur Helps 
is not a general favorite. Somebody once said (was it Ruskin, at whose 
imperious order so many of us read ' Friends in Council,' a dozen years 
ago?) that appreciation of Helps is a sure test of culture. Not so much 
that, one may suggest, as of a certain native fineness and excellence of 
mind. The impression prevails among some of those who do net read him, 
that Helps is a hard writer. Nothing could be more erroneous. His man- 
ner is simplicity itself; his speech always winning, and of a silvery dis- 
tinctness. There are hosts of ravenous readers, lively and capable, who, 
if their vague prejudice were removed, would exceedingly enjoy the gentle 
wit, the unassuming wisdom, and the refreshing originality of the author 
in question. There are men and women, mostly young, with souls that 
sometimes weary of the serials, who need nothing so much as a persuasive 
guide to the study of worthier and more enduring literature. For most of 
those who read novels with avidity are capable of reading something else 
with avidity, if they only knew it. And such a guide, and pleasantest of all 
"•such guides, is Arthur Helps. * * Yet 'Casimir Maremma' is a charming 
book, and, better still, invigorating. Try it. You are going into the country 
for the summer months that remain. Have ' Casimir' with you, and have 
' Realmah,' too. The former is the pleasanter book, the latter the more pow» 
erful. But if you like one you will like the other. At the least you will rise 
from their perusal with a grateful sense of having been received for a time 
into a select and happy circle, where intellectual breeding is perfect, and the 
6truggle for brilliancy unknown. 

Sold everywhere. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of adver« 
tised price, by the Publishers, 

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 



T 



HOUGHTS 



A 



BOUT 



A 



RT, 



By PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON, 

Author of "A Painter's Camp" 

First American Edition. Revised by the Author. 
One Vol. i6mo. 400 pages. Price $2.00. 



CONTENTS. 



That Certain Artists should write 

on Art. 
Painting' from Nature. 
Painting- from Memoranda. 
The Place of Landscape Painting 

amongst the Fine Arts. 
The Relation betweeD Photog- 
raphy and Painting. 

Wood Painting and Color Paint- 
ing. 

Transcendentalism in Painting. 
The Law of Progress in Art. 
Analysis and Synthesis in Paint- 
ing. 



10. The Reaction from Pre-Raphaei- 

itism. 

11. The Painter in His Relation to 

Society. 

12. Picture Buying. 

13. The Housing of National Art 

Treasures. 

14. Fame. 

15. Art Criticism. 

16. Proudhon as a Writer on Art. 

17. Two Art Philosophers. 

18. Furniture. 

19. The Artistic Spirit. 



Since the publication of that charming volume, "A Painter's 
Camp," Mr. Hamerton has published "The Unknown River: 
An Etcher's Voyage of Discovery," with thirty-seven illustra- 
tions, etched from nature, by the author. The Unknown River 
was the Arroux, a tributary of the Loire, and the voyage was 
pei formed in a boat built by the author, with his dog Tom for 
his only companion ; and the illustrations were etched from na- 
ture on the way. Nothing can be more delightful than this 
volume ; it is a marvel of artistic interest. 

"Thoughts about Art" will be mailed, postpaid, to any ad- 
dress, on receipt of the advertised price, by the publishers, 

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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